Find Love in Death ,Kim,
by Asuki Mona Zetsumei
Summary: KIM'S FIC, NOT MINE! Grimmjow's need for revenge is strong, so what will he do when he is handed the chance to get it? Warnings: Yaoi, swearing, violence, minor/adult relations
1. Murder

"_Shirosaki?" I called out, looking around the large warehouse I was in. My brow furrowed in anger as I called out to the albino again, searching the levels above me for some sign of the other man._

_I heard movement coming from behind me but before I could turn around I felt something sharp lightly press into my lower back. I looked as far back and down as I was able to and saw a pale hand holding a black and white butcher knife. So that's what's pressing me in the back. I looked up to see the inverted eyes of my detective partner, gleaming with a malice I've never seen before. "Shi-"_

_A cold hand covered my mouth, silencing the rest of the growled out name. Shirosaki's hand stayed on my mouth for a few seconds before moving to my neck, a long index finger dragging across my neck like a blade._

"_Congratulations Grimmjow, you have finally found your serial killer." My eyes narrowed further. "Why Shirosaki? Why did you do this?" The knife dug into my back and I let out a loud grunt of pain. "I never said you could talk," Shirosaki said in my ear. Then, as if my question just now registered with him he looked up at the ceiling, a thoughtful look taking over his features before he looked back at me, a wide, maniacal smile crossing his face._

"_Why, you ask?" Shiro chuckled a little before continuing, "To make a mockery of the police force of course!" My eyes widened in shock at this statement. I expected to hear something that I've heard from serial killers before like, "I just love the joy of torturing and killing innocent women." Not what came out of the albino's mouth._

"_They always think that they're so high and mighty, thinking that they can catch any criminal, when they couldn't even catch the generation's worst serial killer! 23 victims and they never even suspected that the killer was among them, that they congratulated him on an almost daily basis!"_

_I tried to get away from him at this point, but he was too fast and wrapped his arm around my neck and twisted to blade in my back. Another grunt of pain escaped me. Shirosaki leaned close to my ear and whispered "I liked ya Grimmjow, I would've let you live. But ya just had to go and figure me out didn't ya?"_

_I was panting heavily, but I managed to get out in between breaths, "I found a hair at that last scene, it was yours…and you were out sick that day…didn't take me long…to figure you out."_

_Shirosaki didn't say a word. He just yanked the knife out of my back and up to my neck, my blood making the blade warm. He dragged the knife across my throat, not deep enough to kill me though._

_My black shirt was soaked, the blood from my back and the fresh blood from my neck making it stick to my skin. I gasped as Shirosaki laid me down on the hard concrete floor, probably going to torture me more._

_My vision was getting blurry; I was starting to get lightheaded from the loss of blood._

"_Ah, ah, ah. Don't go passing out of me now Grimmjow." I yelled in pain as the knife was thrust into my left hand._

"_Mmm…I love hearing the yells and screams of my victims. Especially yours now that I know what it sounds like. And also your face," Shirosaki cupped my right cheek. "The way you try to keep your face straight even though I can clearly see the terror in your eyes. All of it is just…" He lowered his hand from my face and dragged three long fingers across my neck and brought them to his mouth, licking the blood off of them with his teal colored tongue. "Intoxicating."_

_He wrenched the knife out of my left hand and held it above my right. "Scream for me again Grimmjow." With that, Shirosaki slammed the blade into my right hand. I bit my tongue hard so I wouldn't let out more than a grunt. _

_I tasted blood in my mouth._

_Shirosaki was unsatisfied with my reaction. He yanked the knife out of my hand and thrust it back in a few times. I continued to bite my tongue. The albino's eyes narrowed and he stabbed my hand one last time before a bored expression came over his face. "You're no fun anymore. I thought you would be more fun than this but I guess I was wrong."_

_He raised the butcher knife above my chest. "Goodbye Grimmjow."_

_I gasped when the knife struck my heart. My vision began dimming and I could faintly hear Shirosaki make a call, his voice sounding scared. "Hello, Captain? This is Shirosaki, I just found Grimmjow…" _

_The rest was lost to me as the life left my body._

* * *

_That was a little over a month ago._ After Grimmjow died he woke up in a place called the Soul Society, he soon learned that he was in the Hokutan district of West Rukongai. He was in the Soul Society for about a week when strange things began to happen to him. At random times throughout the day he would become transparent, and when he would fall asleep he would see his home town, Karakura. He wasn't sure if these were just dreams but with the transparent thing he couldn't be too sure.

Grimmjow was out walking around and a couple Soul Reapers-people wearing black kimonos, wielding swords called zanpaku-tos, and lived inside the walls-spotted him during one of his "episodes" and they brought him to their head captain, Shikeguni Genryusai Yamamoto. After a few moments of deliberation after first seeing him, the elder male said "It seems that you still have a strong tie to the Human World, that tie is filling you with anger and trying to pull you back to the living.

"I have a proposition for you. I will let you return to the living; but, I have 2 conditions." He held up one finger. "First, everyone that knows that you are dead will still believe that you are dead." Grimmjow nodded and Yamamoto held up another finger. "Second, you must become a cat for six years when you return."

Grimmjow's eyes widened and he was about to ask the old man why, but figured that this was the only chance he'll get so he didn't want to screw it up by asking questions.

"Do you accept these conditions?" Grimmjow nodded and said "Yes sir." Yamamoto nodded. "Very good." He motioned to the two Soul Reapers that brought Grimmjow there. They stepped up and Yamamoto said to them, "Take him to the Senkaimon and lead him through." They both nodded and the one on the left, she had burgundy hair and gray eyes, stepped in front of Grimmjow and the male with her, he had black hair and bright green eyes, followed behind him as the woman led him to whatever this "Senkaimon" is.

It turned out that the Senkaimon is the large that connects the Soul Society to the Human World. The girl tapped Grimmjow on the shoulder. "We aren't going to go the entire way through with you, just before we reach the Human world we're going to turn back, but you just go on through." Grimmjow nodded.

The large gate opened and the three ran into the white void. They were only running for a few seconds before a round door came into view. They stopped and the female Soul Reaper nodded her head to the door. Grimmjow thanked them before going through the door.

As soon as his foot hit the ground of the Human World he shrank. It was hard to tell exactly how much at first, but once he gave himself a look over he determined that he must be a kitten with bright fur the same color as his hair. _Like anyone's not gonna notice that. _He tried walking and tripped a couple times before getting the hang of walking on four legs. He looked at his surroundings, determined that it was evening as the sun was setting, and that he was by the river in Karakura.

He wasn't walking for very long before he came upon a young boy with orange hair, probably only 9 or 10, crying softly. There was a stirring feeling in his gut that told him that he's met this kid before, but he couldn't put on a finger on when. He walked closer to the boy and tried to talk to him but all that came out was "Meow."

Grimmjow inwardly groaned at how high-pitched his voice sounded.

The little boy's head shot up at the sound, brown eyes red rimmed from crying. "Oh…" He wiped his nose on the back of his hand. "Hey little guy, when did you get here?" He reached out his other hand and tentatively pet Grimmjow's head, smiling softly as he did. "I've never seen a cat with blue fur before; I wonder what kind of cat you are."

_Oh if only he knew. _Grimmjow thought as the kid continued to pet him.

A drop of water hit Grimmjow's nose and he sneezed before looking back up at the sky. _Those storm clouds came in quick. _They weren't even in the sky when Grimmjow looked up earlier.

The kid looked up at the sky and then back at Grimmjow before scooping him up in his arms and started to run in the direction of what was most likely his house. The rain picked up as he was running and even though it wasn't that far a distance to the kid's house they were both soaked when the orange head reached the front door and walked in.

Grimmjow heard a young girl's voice coming from the kitchen calling out "Ichigo!" Then in the doorway a girl appeared with light brown hair and wide brown eyes that couldn't be more than 4 or 5 years old. "You're home!" She started running toward the boy, whose name is apparently Ichigo, when she saw Grimmjow wet and shaking. "Aww, where did you find this little guy?"

Grimmjow looked up at Ichigo's face and saw the kid smiling. "I was down by the river and he just walked up to me. Then it started raining and I didn't want to leave him out in the rain," He was interrupted by an older male's voice that sounded disturbingly familiar, call out "ICHIGO! YOU'VE COME HOME!" Then the man bounded down the stairs. He had dark hair, dark brown eyes, and a wide goofy grin across his face as he looked at Ichigo and the shaking bundle of fur in his arms.

"Why don't you take that cat upstairs and dry it off before it gets sick Ichigo. We'll take it to the vet later this week to see if he's chipped." Ichigo and the younger girl both said excitedly, "And if he's not can we keep him?" The man who Grimmjow guessed was the kids' father, smiled warmly and nodded.

Grimmjow looked again at Ichigo's face to see him smiling more widely than before. As Ichigo turned to go up the stairs Grimmjow looked in the living room and saw something that made his heart stop in his chest. There, hanging on the wall, was a large memorial poster of Masaki Kurosaki, the last of Shirosaki's victims before Grimmjow was killed. _That's why this family seemed so familiar. _He had talked to them after they found the body and told the father, Isshin Kurosaki if he remembered correctly, that she was murdered, not realizing that Isshin's son Ichigo was standing in the shadows, listening to the entire conversation.

The little boy stepped out and, sounding entirely too old for his age, said to Grimmjow, "Detective Grimmjow, I hope that you find the man who killed my mother and give him what he deserves!" He was shocked at the fire in the kid's eyes even though he had just learned that his mother died. _I guess that fire didn't last long though._

They entered Ichigo's room and Grimmjow was gently set on the bed. Ichigo walked over to the side of his room and stripped down to the only article of clothing that didn't get wet, his Zangetsu briefs. Zangetsu is the villain in a popular superhero show; he seems to be more popular than the main superhero, Hyorinmaru or something like that. The only reason why he knew this is because his nephew, Hideo Ichimaru, used to talk to him about the show all the time.

Ichigo dressed in black sweats and a grey t-shirt and stepped out into the hall for a few seconds.

While he was gone, Grimmjow looked around the room. The bed seemed huge to him in his small form so he figured it must be a full, there was a desk to the right of the bed and a closet directly across from the bed.

Ichigo walked back in carrying a large towel and a small hand towel. He wrapped the large towel around his neck before walking over to Grimmjow and placing the hand towel over his body.

Grimmjow poked his head out as Ichigo began gently drying him.

"I don't think you're gonna be chipped, a cat as special as you would have a lot of fliers hanging around if you went missing." He started to rub the towel on Grimmjow's head. "I wonder what I should name you."

Grimmjow peeked through the folds of the towel and saw that Ichigo had a thoughtful look on his face. "You remind me a lot of that one detective that came over to tell us that my mom was…k-killed. Your fur is the same color as his hair and your eyes are the same color as his."

Ichigo smiled. "His name is Grimmjow Jaegerjaques; I only remember it because he promised to find my mom's killer, so I had to remember his name."

The towel was taken off of Grimmjow but he hardly noticed because he was transfixed on the youth. "I think…I'll name you Grimm, how does that sound?"

Grimmjow meowed in approval and pressed his head against Ichigo's knee. _Man this kid is going to hate it when they air the story of me being killed by the very serial killer that killed his mother. _He knew that they always waited longer to release the stories of murdered police officers, especially if they were well known. He was dead for a month so he figured that it should air any day now.

Ichigo picked Grimmjow up and started walking downstairs. "You must be starving, let's go see if we can find something for you to eat." They neared the kitchen, where the sounds of a food processor carried throughout the lower floor.

They entered and Grimmjow saw the girl from earlier at the food processor scooping something into a small bowl.

"Hey Yuzu."

The girl turned and smiled. "Hey Ichi-nii. I figured that the cat might be hungry so I took some fresh raw beef from the fridge and ground it so it would be easier for him to eat it."

"Oh, thanks Yuzu. I was just coming down to find him something to eat anyway." Grimmjow was set on the floor and the bowl was set in front of him. As he dug into his dinner, Ichigo and Yuzu talked above him, mostly about what Ichigo had named him. He paused and looked up at Yuzu's face to see the girl wearing a secretive smile.

Once he was finished, he stepped away from the bowl and pawed at Ichigo's ankle. Yuzu giggled and said. "He already likes you."

No, he was just tired and that, added with all the food he just ate, equaled a hard time getting up the stairs without Ichigo's help.

Ichigo picked him up, said goodnight to Yuzu, and walked upstairs to his room. He turned off the light and crossed to room to his bed. He set Grimmjow down and sat cross-legged on the bed.

Ichigo talked to him for a little bit, talking about what life here was mostly like, how crazy his dad was, and about his sisters, he had another sister named Karin, Yuzu's twin sister.

After a little bit, Ichigo's eyes started to droop, so he laid down and almost instantly he fell asleep.

Grimmjow stood there for a few seconds, feeling awkward. He didn't want to fall asleep curled into the youth, he would feel too wrong. After a little bit of walking around the bed, he thought he found a safe spot near Ichigo's face, curled into the pillow, Ichigo's warm breath fanning him as he fell asleep.

**Yep, I'm back! Sorry for disappearing on you guys but I got my writing urge back! My next project after this is to get chapter 6 of HTYK done (I'll be working on that tonight). **

**Can't wait to see what you think of this new story! Until next time! *bows***


	2. Anger

"_Welcome to the team Grimmjow." Aaroniero Arruruerie, the captain of the Homicide branch of the Karakura Police Force, said. The man was a couple inches taller than me, and that was saying something seeing as how I was 6'3". He had long, red hair pulled into a high ponytail and he had very dark brown eyes. The look in those eyes told me that he was not someone to fuck with. I didn't feel like testing that anytime soon._

_He held out his left hand, pointing to someone sitting at one of the desks in the other room. "The pale one is your partner." I nodded and walked out of the office and up to the desk that Aaroniero pointed out to me. _

_The person sitting in the chair had ghostly pale skin, ash white hair, and eyes with black sclera and bright yellow irises. When he licked his lips I also noticed that he had a teal colored tongue. When he noticed me he smiled widely before saying "Ahh, so you must be my new partner. Grimmjow, is it?" I nodded and the index and middle fingers of his left hand began tracing circles on his desk, his right hand holding up his head. "I'm Shirosaki Ogichi. And you're in luck," he started to stand up, "I just got a call about someone finding a woman's body in an alley." Shirosaki stuffed his hands in his pockets and led me out of the building and to his car._

_We pulled up to the street next to the alley and parked. We stepped out of the car and Shirosaki walked into the alley and slipped on gloves before looking underneath a pile of cardboard boxes and trash bags. _

_He found a nude young woman mixed in with the trash, he throat was slit and her intestines were spilling out of her stomach. She had a few stray cuts on her arms, legs, and chest but her face was left untouched. The entire scene was grotesque, the smell hanging around the girl was a horrid mixture of death and old garbage, and I just felt so sorry for her, her life ended so soon. _

_Shirosaki pulled out his phone and contacted the medical team. Then he moved the girl's face to a better angle so he could see it better. I crouched by him and noticed that it was the young girl who always helped me when I went to the grocery store. She had such a cheery personality and we always had nice chats._

_I looked at Shirosaki's face to see a weird expression in his eyes, it was a mixture of emotions but the most profound was excitement, but the rest of his face was grim so I figured my eyes must be playing tricks on me. _

Grimmjow woke to find his head buried in the pillow, front legs under the pillow, and hind legs stretched out behind him. He inwardly chuckled; he always used to sleep like that when he was in his human body.

A quick look to the left told him that Ichigo was still asleep and that the sun was just starting to come up. He tucked his legs under his body and thought about his dream.

Ever since he was killed, he's looked back on this moment and kicked himself. He should've known that Shirosaki didn't get a call even though there were witnesses there, how strange it was that he himself had to contact the medical team even though they usually follow the team out when they get a call, and that look in Shirosaki's eyes. His eyes weren't playing tricks on him that was excitement in Shirosaki's eyes. He was reliving killing his first victim.

He heard Ichigo yawn next to him and felt him start to stir so Grimmjow curled back up to the pillow but kept his eyes open so he wouldn't fall back asleep.

Once Ichigo was fully awake Grimmjow jumped to the floor and waited for Ichigo to open the door. When he did, the two walked down to the kitchen for breakfast. There was a young girl sitting at the table that he hadn't seen last night. She had chin length black hair, brown eyes, and had a bored expression on her face. _She must be another of Ichigo's sisters. _He had read in the report on Masaki that she had two daughters.

There was another bowl of raw meat waiting for him by Ichigo's chair. He happily dug into his breakfast while listening to the conversations above.

"Children, I have great news. I got an appointment for the cat at the veterinarian's today." The kids were excited but Grimmjow could detect sadness in their voices also. _Well they don't need to be worried; I'm not going to be chipped. _

They had the first appointment of the day so after breakfast everyone showered, dressed, and went down to the family van. Since the family didn't have a pet carrier Ichigo had to hold Grimmjow on the way to the vet.

Grimmjow mostly looked out of the window and ignored everyone as they talked. He had always loved doing this when he was a human, watching the scenery of the town go by always brought a calm feeling over him, but not on this trip.

They were at a stop light by the cemetery when Grimmjow saw something that broke the calm feeling and replaced it with anger and regret.

He saw his younger sister Neliel leading her five year old son Hideo through the cemetery, no doubt going to Grimmjow's grave. His sister had long sea-foam green hair, hazel eyes, and was up to his chin in height, she was a very curvaceous woman which led Grimmjow to questioning her husband's intent to marry her at first.

She was always counted on to have a cheery personality and helped Grimmjow when they were in school; she was really intelligent, she had even skipped a grade, putting her just a year behind Grimmjow in high school. She had gotten married when she was twenty to Gin Ichimaru, one of her childhood friends other than Pesche Guatiche and Dondochakka Birstanne. Nine months after, she had given birth to her first son, Hideo.

Hideo had gotten most of his traits from his father, the way his face was shaped, how his hair was more straight, not wavy like his mother's, and the way his eyes seemed closed most of the time. But, when he opened his eyes you could find Neliel's hazel color looking back at you. His hair color was a mixture of his parents, coming together to form a light, silvery-green. He was an excitable boy, always monopolizing most of Grimmjow's time when he went to go visit Neliel and Gin, but he was also calm and sly at times like his father.

Grimmjow hated Shirosaki more than ever in that moment when he was looking at his sister and nephew, he hated him for putting those sullen, grim expressions on faces that used to smile so much. _I'm going to find Shirosaki and I'm going to kill him for what he's done to them._

When they reached the vet they got out of the van and walked inside. Ichigo, Yuzu, and the other girl, her name was Karin, sat down while Isshin took Grimmjow up to the desk. "Hello, I have an appointment with Dr. Ishida." The woman looked up and smiled. "Oh, is this the little stray you talked about on the phone?"

"Yes, it is." The woman typed something into the computer and looked back at Isshin. "Dr. Ishida will be out with you in a moment." Isshin thanked the woman and sat down next to the children, Yuzu petting Grimmjow gently.

After a few moments, the door to the right of the desk, that Grimmjow guessed lead to the examination rooms, opened and a man in a lab coat stepped out, Ishida on the name tag. Dr. Ishida was tall and fair-skinned, he was wearing frameless glasses around his narrow blue eyes, and he had silver hair.

"Right this way Isshin."

Grimmjow could detect a sense of companionship between the two older males as they all walked to a room, as if they've known each other for a long time.

They entered the examination room and Grimmjow was placed onto the cold table. Dr. Ishida grabbed the wand that detects chips and waved it over Grimmjow's back. When no sound emitted from the device, Dr. Ishida 'hmphed' and placed the device back in its place.

After that, the real examination began. Grimmjow had to get shots, get his eyes and ears checked, and get weighed. It turned out that he only weighed 2 pounds, 10 ounces. He couldn't believe that he went from being 6'3", weighing almost 200 lbs, to weighing around 2% of his body weight and being just a couple inches taller than Ichigo's ankle. _It's humiliating._

The examination continued, Dr. Ishida checked his stomach, paws, and his mouth.

"This cat has impeccable health, although it's still a little bit strange as to why he has blue fur." Dr. Ishida wrote some things down on the paper on his clipboard and showed them back out to the receptionist. She began filling out things onto the computer from Dr. Ishida's sheet. "All right, and what is his name going to be?" Everyone, including Grimmjow, looked at Ichigo. The young boy looked up at the woman and said "Grimm, G-r-i-m-m." The woman smiled at him and typed it into the computer.

Once she was finished she printed some papers out, and handed Isshin an envelope that also held his tag inside of it.

They left the veterinarian's office and got back into the van, en route to the local Petsmart, where they purchased everything from a black collar to a climbing tower that would enable Grimmjow to have a perfect kitty life for the next six years.

When they had finally made it back to the Kurosaki household, the kids and Isshin set up everything that they had purchased. Ichigo walked over to him and placed the collar around his neck and attached the tag to the small ring. The blue circle was a bit heavy but Grimmjow didn't really mind.

* * *

Ichigo was about to head upstairs when he heard a knock on the door. He opened it and found his two best friends, Tatsuki Arisawa and Szayel Aporro Granz standing on the doorstep.

Ichigo inwardly sighed; he had wanted to wait until tomorrow at school to tell the two about the cat. _Since they showed up might as well tell them. _He invited the two inside and up to his room, where he had seen Grimm run up to after he had placed his collar and tag on him. He hoped that this wouldn't be as bad as how telling them about the detective was at first.

"_Aww, Szayel, our little Ichigo has his first crush." My eyes widened and I snapped, "I do not!"_

_Szayel gave his signature sigh. "Please Ichigo, it's written all over your face." I grabbed a pillow from behind me and hid my face. "But, he's a guy, why would I have a crush on him?" Szayel easily pulled the pillow from my grasp and I saw Tatsuki shrug. "What's wrong with that?"_

"_Very true, as you know my older brother is dating a boy." That was true, Szayel's older brother, Ilfort, was dating a boy named Ggio Vega. They took the three of us to the local mall or to the movie theater when we wanted to hang out. They seemed to really like each other and Szayel's parents approved of them when they saw the two together for the first time._

_So maybe it's not so bad that I have a crush on a guy. The only hard part was that he's an adult so nothing could happen. But everyone's first crush is a teacher or something right? So it'll blow over soon and this can all go back to normal._

_Then, Tatsuki and Szayel tried to cheer me up by saying that Grimmjow would definitely find my mom's killer. I really hoped that they were right._

Ichigo closed the door behind them and they sat down on his bed, Ichigo having to be careful so he wouldn't crush Grimm, who was sleeping on his pillow.

"So have you heard anything from the detective yet?" Tatsuki's eyes glistened with genuine concern.

Ichigo shook his head. "Nothing yet, but I've watched crime shows, so I know that it can take awhile sometimes." Tatsuki nodded.

"What is that behind you Ichigo?" He followed Szayel's gaze to find him looking at Grimm.

"Oh, that's our new cat." Tatsuki gasped. "When did you guys get a cat?"

"Yesterday. He came up to me when I was down by the river and it started to rain so I brought him home with me."

Tatsuki's face softened slightly, the way it always did when she saw an animal. "So what's his name?"

Ichigo blushed; this was the part the he was worried about. "It's Grimm." Szayel sighed and shook his head. "Really Ichigo?"

He glared at his pink haired friend. "Well that name just stuck, it wouldn't get out of my head. I wouldn't feel right calling him anything else." Tatsuki interjected, "I like the name, and it does suit him." Szayel smiled wistfully. "It does but I still know why the name wouldn't get out of your head."

Ichigo rolled his eyes. Szayel could be such a pain sometimes, but he was his best friend so he knew how to deal with it.

The three of them had met when they all started at the same dojo together. Szayel was two years older than both him and Tatsuki, he was seven when he joined, but they were in the same beginner's class. Ichigo and Tatsuki became fast friends but Szayel was a little bit harder to befriend.

He had this stuck-up attitude that annoyed both Ichigo and Tatsuki to no end. So, one day, Tatsuki asked the sensei if she could be Szayel's sparring partner for the day. He agreed and when the sparring began she toned Szayel down a couple notches by easily flipping him when he went in for an attack.

Ichigo was still a little unsure of his fighting skills but when he was paired up with Szayel the next time they had a sparring session, his self-esteem was brought up a little bit. They were sort of evenly matched, with Szayel getting more hits in than he could, but then Ichigo focused on what Tatsuki and sensei taught him and found an opening while Szayel was bringing his leg back from a kick and made his move, punching him before hooking his leg behind Szayel's and bringing it forward, making the pink haired boy fall on his back.

Ichigo pinned his arms down and smiled at him, feeling both smug and proud at the same time. Smug because he had taken down Szayel, and proud for that was the first sparring session where he didn't cry. Szayel glared at him for a few moments before he smiled as well. "It seems I have underestimated your abilities."

From that day and now to the present, it's been five years since then, they became inseparable friends. They were always the first people Ichigo told when he found out anything. Like after Grimmjow had left, while his father was dialing the number for Ichigo's uncle, Byakuya, Ichigo grabbed the phone out of his hand and used it to call Szayel and Tatsuki.

The two had immediately come over and allowed Ichigo to cry on their shoulders. A few days after that was when he had told them about the detective.

Ichigo was in the middle of telling them about the visit to the veterinarian's when his door opened and his father stepped into the doorway.

"Ichigo, there's something that you need to come see right away."

**Okay, I think that I didn't explain something enough in the last chapter and I apologize for that. But when Yamamoto said that the people who know that Grimmjow is dead will still believe that he's dead, I meant that when Grimmjow turns back into a human everyone won't suddenly remember him being alive, BUT, he can choose to reveal himself to people that he wants to reveal himself to. **

**I just wanted to clear up any confusion on that before the story progresses. And I probably had other stuff to say on this chapter but I forgot it. *shrugs* Oh well. OH! I wanted to apologize for the length of this chapter, I promise that the next one will be longer! **

**All righty, I've taken enough of your time so until next time! *bows***


	3. Misery

"Ichigo, there's something that you need to see right away."

Ichigo raised an eyebrow at his father before the three friends got up from the bed and walked downstairs to the living room.

The television was on but at the moment there was a commercial for a local fast food place playing on the screen. The four of them sat down and made themselves comfortable on the couch and loveseat, waiting for the program to come back on.

After a colorful commercial about a cleaning product ended, the evening news came on, a woman's voice announcing the first story.

"About a month ago, a local detective was found murdered by the serial killer that has been terrorizing Karakura for the last three years. The detective's name was Grimmjow Jeagerjaques. Here is a photo of the detective."

Ichigo's eyes widened and his heart and stomach sank past his feet when a picture of Detective Grimmjow came onto the screen.

It was obviously a home photo, and showed the blunet smiling widely while leaning against a blue and black Yamaha motorcycle. He was wearing a black short-sleeved t-shirt, dark blue jeans, and black motorcycle boots. He was carrying a black motorcycle helmet with an intricate drawing of a blue panther on it in his left hand, right thumb slipped into his pocket.

The picture vanished and the woman continued talking about what had happened but Ichigo couldn't hear her. Out of his peripheral vision he noticed his dad, Tatsuki, and Szayel looking at him with worried eyes.

He was frozen for a few more seconds before he launched himself over the back of the couch and ran out of the door. He was aware of Tatsuki and Szayel chasing him but he didn't care.

He was angry. He was angry and sad and he couldn't believe what he had seen on the television. _A month ago? He was murdered a month ago? _That was just a week after he had come over and promised to find his mom's killer, and then he goes and gets killed by him!

He continued running until he reached the only place that could calm him down, his little area by the river. He stopped running but was only alone for two seconds before arms wrapped around him tightly from behind, intent to hold him still. He struggled against his captor before he removed his right arm from the grip and swung it backwards, his elbow catching them in the face. The arms around him released as he heard Szayel curse.

He started running again, wanting to get as far away from anyone as possible. But he didn't get far when a hand grabbed his wrist and flipped him onto his back. Tatsuki's face appeared above his as she pinned his arms down. She looked concerned and angry at the same time.

"Ichigo, why the hell did you run off like that?" Ichigo's eyes widened. It was one thing to hear Szayel curse, he'd heard it before, but Tatsuki cussing was something new to him.

"I get that you're pissed at what you saw on the news, but there are two different things that could've happened. Grimmjow could've found who killed your mom and just got over-powered, or he could've been close but just got taken by surprise before he could catch him. But there's still the possibility that he found him!"

Ichigo glared at his best friend. "What does it matter anyway? He's dead! Even if he _did _find out who killed my mom he can't do anything!" His chest constricted from his own words but he ignored it.

Tatsuki glared right back at him, effectively making him feel weaker. "Ichigo, he could've told someone that he found out before he got killed, he couldn't have been _that _proud and stupid as to just go at a serial killer by himself."

Tatsuki's words did nothing to calm him. He began to think that Grimmjow didn't tell anyone about the serial killer. No one would find him, his mother would go unavenged. He started crying, angry and sad tears both spilling down his cheeks as he clung to Tatsuki's shirt.

Tatsuki's arms wrapped around him comfortingly, he also felt Szayel's hand on his shoulder. He began sobbing loudly, the images of his mom at her funeral, of her ghost haunting the world flooding his mind.

He continued crying into Tatsuki's shirt until the tears stopped falling and his throat was sore. Tatsuki and Szayel's soothing voices calmed him down until he was just hugging Tatsuki tightly.

He slowly let go of his friend and sat down cross-legged on the ground. He looked at Szayel and noticed the dried blood on his mouth, chin, and a little bit of his neck. Szayel caught his gaze and smiled, "It's no big deal Ichigo; at least you didn't break my nose or knock out my teeth."

Ichigo still looked at Szayel with a sorry look on his face, but refocused his attention on Tatsuki when she pulled him up from the ground. "Come on Ichigo, let's get you home."

Ichigo slowly nodded and the three started walking back to Ichigo's house. When they got back they walked inside and found Isshin still on the couch, watching the rest of the news.

Tatsuki walked up to him and asked "Did the news say anything else about the serial killer? Like anyone getting close to finding him?"

Isshin slowly shook his head. Ichigo silently sighed before turning and starting to walk up to his room. Szayel grabbed his arm before he reached the stairs and turned him around. "Tomorrow will be better Ichigo. School might get your mind off of everything."

Ichigo nodded, but he really didn't think that it would. Tatsuki walked over to him, briefly hugging him before saying "See you tomorrow at school Ichigo." Ichigo nodded and waved at them before they left the house.

"Would you like some dinner, Ichigo?"

The young boy looked at his father and shook his head before heading upstairs.

He entered his room and looked at his bed, where the sight of his cat looking at him sent Ichigo into another round of crying. He climbed onto his bed and grabbed his second pillow and hugged it to his chest. "He's dead Grimm. That detective I told you about got himself killed by the same guy that killed my mom!" He threw the pillow back onto the bed and began punching it, needing to relieve some built up tension and stress in his arms.

"He fucking promised to find my mom's killer, not get himself killed before he could catch him!" He didn't care what cuss words were coming out of his mouth as he relieved his stress into the pillow and to his cat.

When his arms were tired he collapsed face first onto the pillow and began sobbing quietly. "Why did all of this have to happen to me? What the hell did I ever do to deserve this?"

He continued to cry until he fell asleep, vaguely feeling the pressure of Grimm curling into him before he closed his eyes.

_**... … … … … …**_

Ichigo had a hollow look on his face when Tatsuki met him at the school gates. She tried talking to him but he just looked at her and didn't say a word. He had seen her mouth move but he couldn't hear what she was saying, his ears were ringing and the news story and Grimmjow's promise kept echoing in his head. A myriad of emotions was sweeping through his mind, making his body feel drained and sluggish. Tatsuki had a worried look on her face as they walked to class.

Ichigo silently walked to his desk, set his things down, and stared out of the window after he sat down. He didn't even register the teacher walking in, or her calling his name for roll.

The class passed by slower than normal, Ichigo continued to stare out of the window, watching the gym classes play soccer with unfocused eyes. A few times he was sure that the teacher was calling on him to answer a question but his eyes never strayed from the window.

When lunch time was called, Tatsuki walked over to his desk and sat in the chair in front of him, which he just realized was empty. She turned the chair around to face him and laid out her lunch on his desk. Ichigo moved his eyes from the window to an empty corner of his desk.

He wasn't focused on anything so when a hand holding a bit of a sandwich popped into his view he jumped a little and looked at Tatsuki's face, which had a determined expression.

"Ichigo, will you eat this for me?"

Ichigo shook his head.

"Come on Ichigo, just one bite. It won't kill you and you need to eat, you can't do this again. It's not good for you."

Again, Ichigo shook his head and even lifted his right hand to push Tatsuki's offering back.

Tatsuki sighed, looked at the sandwich piece, and then back at Ichigo. "Look, if you just have one bite I'll leave it alone."

Ichigo moved his hand to Tatsuki's, grabbed the bite, and popped it into his mouth before chewing and swallowing.

Tatsuki smiled softly before going back to her sandwich.

When lunch was over Tatsuki went back to her seat and the teacher walked back into the room, Ichigo went back to the window. The teacher had probably given up on trying to make Ichigo talk because the obnoxious feeling went away.

When the final bell rang the students filed out of the school, Ichigo keeping up with Tatsuki. They walked in silence on the way to Ichigo's house, which was on the way to hers. Both enjoyed the silence, they didn't feel the need to fill it with conversation. They were able to focus on their own thoughts without interruption.

But Ichigo was more focused on his thoughts than on what he was seeing so when they reached Ichigo's house and Ichigo kept walking Tatsuki had to yank him back by his book bag. "Forget where your house is?" She laughed and Ichigo cracked a small smile. Even when he was depressed, she and Szayel could find some way to make him smile; it was one reason why he was happy that they were his best friends.

"I'll see you tomorrow okay Ichigo?"

The berry nodded and waved goodbye to her before walking inside and up to his room. He did start listening to what the teacher was saying near the end of class, even though he continued to stare out the window. He knew what homework was due so he worked on that in silence, Grimm mostly laying on Ichigo's bed and watching him.

Dinner time rolled around and Karin knocked on his door, saying that he better get downstairs. He placed all of his homework away into his book bag and walked downstairs, taking his place at the table.

He only drank his water and absently stared at a spot on the wall during dinner. After, he smiled at Yuzu, who was looking at him worriedly, and went back upstairs.

He got dressed into his pajamas and slid into bed, looking down as he felt as Grimm curl into him again. _I guess that he's starting to make himself at home._

He rolled over onto his stomach and silent tears fell onto his pillow as he fell asleep.

* * *

It's been two weeks since the news story of Grimmjow's death aired and there hasn't been any change in Ichigo. If anything, he's gotten worse. He was skinnier from not eating food, he wasn't even bothering to leave his room for anything other than school or using the bathroom, and there was no emotion other than sadness in his eyes. The anger that was previously there died out over the last week.

Grimmjow has taken to sleeping curled into the boy every night, trying to find some way to comfort him seeing as how he _was _the cause of all this. In his sleep, Ichigo kept mumbling something about "broken promises," and Grimmjow knew that the kid was talking about him.

After everything bad he's done in his life, how does one kid make him feel like the most worthless piece of shit in the universe? He did find Shirosaki out and he did try to stop him, but the problem was that the kid didn't know that, so he didn't know if Grimmjow did find him or not.

He wished that he could talk so that he could tell Ichigo that he did find his mom's killer, hopefully making some of the sadness in his eyes go away. _But no, I still have six years to go before I can tell the kid anything! _He was starting to hate this condition, it didn't seem so bad when he was first handed the deal, but now he wished that he could ring Yamamoto's neck.

He was in Ichigo's room, curled up against the boy as he laid and stared at the ceiling. There was a commotion in the hallway before the door suddenly opened, Ichigo's friends and Karin entering and marching up to the bed.

Grimmjow's head shot up when Tatsuki slammed her hands onto the bed. "You need to stop this Ichigo, this isn't healthy for you! You need to eat! You can't survive on water alone, look at you, you look like you're about to collapse!" Tatsuki sat on the bed. "We know that you're depressed Ichigo, but not eating and not talking won't make Grimmjow come back and find that serial killer. We're just worried about you and don't want to see you like this."

Karin started talking. "Yeah, and Yuzu's been crying whenever you're not in the room because of how worried she is about you."

Ichigo's face was taken over by guilt at the mention of Yuzu, Grimmjow could empathize, he always felt like crap when he made Neliel cry.

Szayel joined the two girls on the bed. "We just want to see you happy again Ichigo."

Ichigo looked at his friends for a long time before he brought his knees up to his chest and hid his head in the small space.

Grimmjow saw Tatsuki reach over and she smacked Ichigo on the head, none too gently either. Ichigo lowered his legs and his hands held the back of his head.

"Ichigo, you can't just try to hide from us, we're not gonna leave until you either stop this and start talking and eating again, or we make you. It's your choice Ichigo." Everyone surrounding the bed gave him stern looks, Szayel crossing his arms and Karin looking like she too wanted to hit Ichigo.

Ichigo looked like he'd been thoroughly beaten. "I-I'm sorry for making you guys worry about me." His voice sounded hoarse from two weeks of not saying anything.

Karin walked closer to her older brother and hugged him tightly. "We just don't want to see you like that Ichigo."

Karin let go of him and leaned back. "Yuzu's making some chicken soup for dinner, do you want any?"

Ichigo smiled. "I'd like that."

The five of them walked downstairs to the kitchen, and when Isshin saw them he ran towards Ichigo with his arms flung wide. "Ichigo! My son, you're finally going to eat" He stopped when an elbow from Karin hit him in the face. "Shut up Goat Face, you'll ruin it!" Isshin stood up and started to cry. "I only wanted to talk to my son, how could you be so mean to your father Karin?"

Ichigo smiled when Karin shrugged and Grimmjow started to eat his dinner. Everyone above him settled into an easy conversation, trying to keep away from Grimmjow and Masaki.

After dinner Ichigo said goodbye to Tatsuki and Szayel and then he and Grimmjow walked back up to Ichigo's room and the youth got ready for bed. The smile Ichigo put on for everyone disappeared as he crawled into bed. Grimmjow curled up next to Ichigo as he began to cry. Even though the kid was talking and eating again didn't mean that he was any less depressed.

Grimmjow curled into Ichigo more and stayed awake until the kid fell asleep.

* * *

Ichigo was slowly eating a bowl of cereal when he heard a knock on the door. He being the only one awake in the house he got up and answered the door, only to find Ilfort and Ggio standing on the porch.

"Hello Ichigo." Ilfort raised his hand and slightly waved at him and Ggio smiled at him.

"Hey guys, what are you doing here?"

Ggio pointed his thumb back at Ilfort's car. "Tatsuki and Szayel are in the car, we're gonna go see a movie. Szayel told us to come inside and get you ready."

Ichigo groaned, but let the teenagers into his house. They followed him up to his room, startling Grimm awake when they walked in, and began grabbing articles of clothing and putting and pulling them off of him until he was dressed in a black t-shirt, black jeans, and black and white Converse. Ilfort messed with his hair a little until he thought that it was as good as it would get and then they dragged Ichigo downstairs and out to the car.

He sat next to Tatsuki, who was in between him and Szayel, and the three of them talked to Ggio on the way to the movie theater as Ilfort only recently got his driver's license so he was concentrating on the road.

Ggio's hair was in its usual braid, his eyes a bright gold. He was wearing a tight black v-neck t-shirt, red skinny jeans, and black skate shoes. Ilfort had let his hair loose, the long blonde strands shining in the sunlight invading the car. His brown eyes focused on where he was turning. He wore a blue t-shirt, white skinny jeans, and blue high-top Converse.

Szayel was wearing an outfit similar to Ggio's, only the colors were switched and instead of red he was wearing gray. Tatsuki was wearing a white t-shirt, dark red shorts, and white and red sneakers.

Ichigo didn't live that far from the theater so in 10 minutes they were pulling into a parking space in front of the large building. They were going to see an action movie, which had come out the day before, at Ggio's request.

Ilfort purchased their tickets and they went inside and up to the concessions area. Even though he had just eaten breakfast Ichigo got a blue raspberry ICEE. He could never resist them when he came to the movies.

As everyone else was deciding what they wanted Ichigo felt the distinct sensation that he was being watched. He subtly turned his head around and near the door to the closest theater the palest man that Ichigo had ever seen leaned against the corner of the wall.

He had ash white hair and his eyes were inverted, they also seemed to be burning a hole in Ichigo's head with how intently he was staring at him. Ichigo shivered slightly. _That guy is creepy. _He turned his head back around and tried not to think about the guy but he still felt that sensation.

Everyone finished getting their things so they started walking to theater number 9. Ichigo looked at the pale man one last time to find the man grinning widely at him. Ichigo shivered again and walked into the theater behind everyone else.

**_… … … … … …_**

_Hmm…so that was that Kurosaki woman's son. How interesting. _Shirosaki finished the last of his drink and through the cup into the trash can before exiting the building.

He walked aimlessly around the shopping center next to the movie theater. He's been bored the past month, he hasn't had the time to find any more suitable victims and he was feeling antsy enough to just kill the next person he saw.

Investigating Grimmjow's murder was taking his time up. He didn't have to be a part of it, Aaroniero already told him that he needed to take some time off, but he needed to make sure that no one found any evidence connecting him to any of the murders.

Maybe he should leave Karakura and go terrorize another city. It sounded like a good idea but he knew that he couldn't do it yet; he had to wait until everyone calmed down from Grimmjow's murder.

His musings were interrupted by a woman bumping into him. "You better watch where you're going asshole!" The woman may be good looking but her attitude certainly pissed him off. _Wrong time to piss me off honey. _

He walked up behind the woman, keeping a stealthy profile; she was going to an area behind some shops, probably going to sneak a smoke. There were no cameras in the small area so when he was sure that no one was within earshot he grabbed the woman's neck from behind, placed his hand over her mouth, and shoved her into the brick wall.

He didn't even deal with his usual torture and just sliced the woman's stomach open. The smell of fresh blood excited him and made him cut too deep into her neck, almost slicing her head off. Finished with his work he cleaned his knife off on the woman's sundress before slipping it back into its place under his shirt. He then walked out of the area and continued forward like nothing had ever happened.

The antsy feeling receded slightly, but he knew that it would be back soon.

_**… … … … … …**_

They walked out of the theater, Ggio and Tatsuki talking about their favorite parts of the movie as they walked to the car. Ichigo thought it was an okay movie, the fight scenes could have been better.

Ilfort dropped him off at his house, everyone saying goodbyes, and then continued driving to Tatsuki's house.

He walked upstairs and to his room, where Grimm was pacing around.

"Grimm, I'm back." He went and sat on his bed and the cat jumped up and sat next to him. "The movie was good but there was this really creepy guy there who wouldn't stop staring at me."

He noticed Grimm's tail twitch slightly.

"He was _really _pale, like a ghost and he had white spiky hair and he had these weird inverted eyes, his irises were yellow and where people's eyes are usually white his were black, they were creepy."

Grimm hissed and he looked at his cat worriedly, he's never hissed before. "Grimm, what's up?" The cat's mouth was pulled back in a snarl and he growled. Ichigo never thought that anything so small and cute could look dangerous, but in that moment, his cat looked like it wanted to claw someone's face off.

"But, the guy didn't do anything to me, he just stared and when I looked at him again he was grinning at me, like he knew who I was. But I've never seen him before."

Grimm hissed again and Ichigo started to worry if it was something he said that made Grimm be like this, but then he thought that was stupid because cats couldn't understand humans.

He shook his head, gently pet Grimm's head, and smiled when it seemed to calm the cat. Grimm still seemed on edge but at least it didn't seem like the cat would try to kill anyone anytime soon.

_**… … … … … …**_

_The first chance I get I'll rip out Shirosaki's throat! _Grimmjow tried to calm himself down after Ichigo started petting him but burning rage spread through his veins. He knew that that was a threat to Ichigo and so help him if Shirosaki ever tries anything with Ichigo.

He was confused by the intense protective feelings he felt for Ichigo. Yeah sure he was the kid's pet but he only had been for a couple of weeks, and only met him once before. He shouldn't feel this strong about protecting him.

Although, with what Shirosaki has done, maybe it is good that he felt this strong about it. Shirosaki was insane and there's no telling what he'd do if he got him.

Grimmjow willed himself to stop thinking about this and forced himself to fall asleep, Ichigo still petting him softly.

**Sorry for the little bit longer update on this, the last couple weeks were crazy for me and I didn't have time to write. And I know that it jumped around a little bit at the end, I just didn't really know how to make those parts longer without having the pov switch jump back to that time and confuse everyone.**

**Oh and by the way, Grimmjow's motorcycle is a 2006 Royal Star Tour Deluxe motorcycle. :) Just wanted you to know that.**

**But I hope that you like this chapter and I look forward to getting the next one out for you!**

**Until next time, farewell. *bows* **


	4. 2 Down, 4 to Go

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY ICHIGO!"

Ichigo smiled widely before taking a deep breath and blowing out all 12 candles on his birthday cake.

Isshin cut up the cake and gave a piece to everyone there before they went into the living room so Ichigo could begin opening his presents.

The Kurosaki household was full of people. Of course there was Isshin, Yuzu, and Karin but their uncle Byakuya was there, as well as Tatsuki, Szayel, Ilfort, and Ggio. They all crowded the living room, finding spots on the couch or the floor, leaving the loveseat open for Ichigo. Grimmjow settled on the arm to the right of Ichigo.

Grimmjow has been with the Kurosaki's for almost two years. It's been pretty uneventful since those couple weeks after Grimmjow's story aired. Ichigo still had some moments where he'd get depressed but overall he was doing much better than back then.

He had gotten used to being a cat, it really wasn't that bad. At least the condition wasn't being a bird for six years; he probably would've killed himself if that was the condition. He hated birds with a burning passion.

He hasn't heard anything specific about Shiro since Ichigo told him about seeing him at the movie theater but there have been a few stories on the news about finding well hidden people that it seemed Shiro just killed to relieve tension, as they never had more than a couple cuts, showing that Shiro isn't taking the time to torture his victims as they don't matter to him as much as the victims he _wants_ to kill.

Ichigo excitedly thanked everyone as he opened his presents. He posed for pictures with some of them and also with the people there. Towards the end of the night Isshin took a picture of Ilfort, Ggio, Szayel, and Tatsuki sitting around Ichigo, Grimmjow sitting in his lap.

When all of the kids started yawning, the two adults decided that that was enough for the night. The teenagers all said goodnight to Ichigo before they got into Ilfort's car and drove them back home.

Isshin and Byakuya cleaned up the living room before Isshin grabbed a blanket and a pillow from the hallway closet and handed it to Byakuya. Byakuya stayed for the night and then he'd go back to Tokyo in the morning.

Ichigo said goodnight to both of them, and to Yuzu and Karin, before going upstairs to his room. Grimmjow hopped onto the bed and Ichigo changed into his pajamas before climbing onto the bed also.

Grimmjow curled into Ichigo, starting to purr when the kid pet him behind the ears. This had become a nightly routine for them over the past two years; Grimmjow knew that petting him always calmed Ichigo down.

Ichigo fell asleep first that night, Grimmjow's mind was racing with thoughts of how long he still had to go to being back to a human and what was gonna happen when he did.

He knew that he was going to go after Shiro that much was obvious. The problem is that with everyone thinking that he was dead he wouldn't get very far by himself. He knew that it would be better to have Ichigo along but he would only be sixteen when he would be leaving so that would be a problem with Isshin, Tatsuki, and Szayel.

Maybe I'll figure something out when the time comes for it.

In a few weeks, Ichigo will be starting middle school with Tatsuki. Ichigo's said that he's nervous about starting a new school but he said that Szayel will be there for his last year so he can help him while he's getting used to it.

Grimmjow inwardly sighed and laid his head down. He calmed his mind down from his racing thoughts and eventually fell asleep.

* * *

**One month later...**

Ichigo has been in middle school for about a week and he seemed to have had a good start. He, Tatsuki, and Szayel have hung out every day, Grimmjow sometimes joining them on their excursions, and Szayel has been helping them get used to the school.

Grimmjow's head lifted from its place under a pillow on the couch when he heard the front door opening, signaling Ichigo's return from school.

Grimmjow jumped down and walked closer when the door swung open. He was overtaken with worry when he saw Ichigo's forehead bleeding and his jaw swollen up.

Isshin came downstairs, saw Ichigo, and called Yuzu from upstairs. Yuzu came down a few seconds later holding the first-aid kit. She set it down and held out a wet cloth to Ichigo's face, intending to clean his wound, but he backed his face up and pushed her hand away.

"Ichi-nii..."

Ichigo shook his head, side-stepped his sister and father, and walked up to his room, Grimmjow close on his heels. He barely made it into the room before Ichigo slammed the door and threw his book bag onto his bed.

The boy angrily ran his hands through his hair and growled loudly. He didn't notice that Grimmjow was there and that was obvious by him almost stepping on the cat multiple times as he paced around his room. He was mumbling angrily to himself but Grimmjow couldn't make out what he was saying.

There were a few times where someone knocked on the bedroom door and Ichigo yelled "Go away!" Grimmjow just watched the entire scene with wide eyes.

_What could've happened at school to make Ichigo so angry? Did he get beat up? _That would explain the cut on his forehead and why his jaw was swollen.

Ichigo wiped the back of this fist across his forehead, trying to wipe the blood away, but more followed. Ichigo's right eye was closed so the blood wouldn't get in it.

Grimmjow meowed, and even hissed, a few times to get his attention, but to no avail.

The bedroom door finally opened and Isshin stood there holding a key. Yuzu was by his side holding the first aid kit.

She walked over to Ichigo with the most determined face Grimmjow has ever seen on her. She pushed Ichigo onto the bed, opened the first aid kit, and began cleaning and dressing his wound.

When the forehead was taken care of, she pulled out an ice pack and pressed it against his jaw. Isshin kneeled in front of them and asked "What happened Ichigo?"

Ichigo stayed silent for a few seconds and then he shook his head. "Ichigo... Tell me what happened at school today."

"It was nothing Dad."

Isshin's face hardened, completely serious for the first time since Grimmjow has known him. "Ichigo, tell me."

Again, Ichigo shook his head. "Dad, can't you just leave it alone for tonight?"

Isshin's face softened. "All right Ichigo, I'll get out of your hair. Yuzu, come on, let's go have dinner."

Yuzu looked at Ichigo sadly before looking back at Isshin, getting up, and following him downstairs.

Ichigo shut the door behind them and sat on his bed, hanging his head in between his legs. He sighed and stayed silent for a few moments, and then he lifted his head and looked at Grimmjow as if seeing that he was there for the first time.

Ichigo pet the cat behind his ears and Grimmjow figured that it was safe enough to crawl towards him. When Grimmjow sat next to his knee Ichigo smiled softly. "Sorry if I scared you Grimm, I was just mad at what happened today."

Grimmjow looked up at Ichigo hopefully, he's been wondering what happened since the kid came home.

It turned out that some kid in 9th grade started making fun of his hair after school while Ichigo was waiting for Tatsuki and Szayel. When Ichigo refused to respond to him the prick started bad-mouthing Masaki, even though the kid had no idea what his mother was like. Ichigo launched forward, catching him with a right hook to the face. The fight was quick, Ichigo getting overpowered. The fight ended when two teachers separated them. One of them was Ichigo's teacher and he said that because they weren't on school grounds they couldn't get suspended.

"He asked what the fight was about and I told him. Kyoraku-sensei knows about my mom, so he said that he understood why I would get mad at that. He hounded into the other guy a little bit and then let us both go. Tatsuki and Szayel saw the whole thing though."

Ichigo sighed again, calming himself down from talking about it. Then, he did something that surprised Grimmjow; he leaned down and kissed the top of Grimmjow's head.

Something stirred in Grimmjow's gut at the action, he didn't know what it was and he really didn't want to know at that moment.

Grimmjow nudged his head into Ichigo's leg before curling up next to him. Ichigo laid down and pet Grimmjow until the cat fell asleep.

* * *

Ichigo walked onto the sidewalk across from school, Tatsuki was out sick and Szayel had an eye appointment so Ichigo was alone.

"Hey, Ginger!"

Ichigo froze at the voice that sounded just a few feet behind him. The boy had been causing him Hell ever since that day they had an altercation outside of the school gate.

"Is this the little wimp that ya told me about Kazeshini?"

Ichigo's eyes widened. There are more of them this time. Kazeshini had only confronted him by himself.

"Yeah, it's him Houzukimaru. He's the one who's giving me a hard time."

Ichigo turned around to look at them. _Great… Two against one, this isn't gonna turn out very good for me is it?_

Houzukimaru smirked. "Oh he don't look that tough, how could a little wimp like that get on your nerves Kazeshini?"

Houzukimaru was a tall, dark skinned ninth grader with orange hair, not quite as bright as his own, spiked up into three points. With how muscular he was you'd hardly believe he was only 14. Kazeshini was around Ichigo's height, had long, black and red hair and light blue eyes that seemed to have no pupils.

"I am not a wimp."

Kazeshini smiled widely. "I heard his voice tremble! Ya gonna go cry to your mommy now, Ginger?"

Ichigo clenched his fists. "Shut up."

Kazeshini began cackling loudly. "Oh, look at this! The wimp's got some fire in him! That's a surprise."

"I said shut up hot head!"

Kazeshini stopped laughing and glared at Ichigo. "You may have fire but ya sure don't know how to play with it, kid."

Ichigo chuckled. "Heh, what? Afraid this "inexperienced loser" will get you burned?"

Kazeshini scoffed. "Please, you wouldn't do a fucking thing to us. You'd just get your ass kicked and then go run home crying for Mommy!"

Ichigo glowered at the older boy and growled out "Say that again and I'll kick your ass you son of a bitch!"

"Ooh, touchy." Kazeshini chuckled. "This might actually be fun this time."

"Fun?" Ichigo smirked, feeling his veins light on fire. "I think I'll have to agree with you!" He started running toward the asshole, fist raised to punch him as hard as he could. "I'm so sick of all your shit so just shut the fuck up!" Kazeshini saw what he was about to do and easily dodged Ichigo once he got close and grabbed his arm.

"You're sick of my shit?" Kazeshini cackled again. "Oh that's rich!" Ichigo felt his grip tighten when he began to struggle. "Ya hear that Houzukimaru? Ya hear how this kid talks to me?" Houzukimaru chuckled. "He's got a bad mouth on him when he gets mad."

"Let go of me dammit!"

A thoughtful look came over Kazeshini's face, as if he was actually considering it. "Not just yet, Ginger."

Ichigo began thrashing harder, desperate to get free.

Kazeshini tightened his grip even more. "It's no use trying to fight kid."

Ichigo did the only thing that he could think of doing at that moment; he reached his head towards Kazeshini's arm and bit him as hard as he could. It had the desired effect; Kazeshini quickly withdrew his hand, letting Ichigo go. "Ya little shit! You'll pay for that!"

Pain exploded across Ichigo's face as his was caught with a surprise left hook from Kazeshini. The older boy kicked him in the stomach and sent him to the ground. Kazeshini and Houzukimaru then proceeded to give him the worst beating of his life. They seemed to his every square inch on his body with their fists or feet. Ichigo's head slammed against the ground, making him see stars.

When Kazeshini and Houzukimaru had their fill they let up, returning to their full height and beginning to laugh as they walked away, leaving Ichigo battered, bruised, and bleeding on the sidewalk.

_It hurts. Everything hurts. _Each breath felt like someone stabbed him. His vision was fading and he wished that someone would find him. He was almost unconscious when he heard a deep voice call out to him.

"Hey, are you awake?"

He squinted open his eye and saw a boy he recognized from school, Chad or something like that. He tried speaking but all that came out was an agonized groan. His eye opened more when he was lifted up into Chad's arms.

"I'll take you to a hospital." Ichigo shook his head. "Kuro…saki…Clinic." Chad looked at him, nodded, and began walking in the direction of the clinic.

Chad said that he was walking home when he saw Kazeshini and Houzukimaru laughing about the "wimp" that they just beat up and then he came upon Ichigo.

When they reached his home Karin opened the door, turned around, and ran into the clinic shouting for their father and Yuzu. Karin came back out dressed in her uniform pushing a gurney. He was laid on the gurney by Chad and then wheeled into the examination room. He was laid out on the bed and his sisters and fathers worked over him.

"Did he hit his head at any point?"

"Not sure. I got there after the fight."

Ichigo nodded his head as much as he could. "Goat Face, he said he hit his head." Isshin walked over to him. "Did you get punched or kicked in the head?" Ichigo shook his head. "Slammed…on…concrete." Isshin swore under his breath. "He may have a concussion. Make sure he doesn't fall asleep." Karin and Yuzu nodded before Yuzu grabbed a blood bag, hung it, and injected the tube into his right arm. Karin grabbed the right equipment to clean and wrap his wounds.

After an X-Ray, it was found out that Ichigo had no broken ribs, luckily. So Karin continued to clean and wrap his wounds. Yuzu lightly shook him whenever she found him falling asleep. Isshin thanked Chad for bringing Ichigo here and offered to give him a ride home. The older boy refused, wished good health to Ichigo, and then left the clinic.

After Karin was done, Isshin looked over him one last time and told the girls to clean up and go to bed, he'd take the night watch to make sure that Ichigo didn't fall asleep and see if the pain in his head calmed down at all.

After a night of slowly talking with Isshin the pain in his head went away, showing that he did not have a concussion. At three in the morning Isshin told Ichigo that he was able to go to sleep. He asked if he needed anything and he said, "Grimm? Could you bring him here?" Isshin smiled softly and nodded.

He left the room and returned a few minutes later, holding the tired cat in his arms. Ichigo smiled as Isshin set him down and Grimm automatically curled into his spot at Ichigo's ribs, falling asleep as soon as his head nuzzled under his paw. Ichigo thanked Isshin and laid his head down on the pillow, closed his eyes, and fell asleep after Isshin closed the door.

**Okay, I finally got this done! A BIG thank you to one of the best friends I've ever had, Asuki Mona Zetsumei! She helped me out a lot with the 2 on 1 conflict! I lovez youz! ^-^** **I had meant to finish this chapter last week when I had a 5-day weekend at school but…FFX and D. Gray Man kept calling my name XD**

**Well I hope ya liked the chapter! Until next time. *bows***


	5. Similarities

**Okay, so one of my best friends in the world, Asuki Mona Zetsumei, lets me have my own little segment in one of her stories and because she's so awesome and I love her I wanted to have her own little segment! :D It's called Suki Time! If you don't want to read it the just skip over it but if you want to keep up on it then go for it! Because knowing Suki…it will get **_**very **_**interesting.**

**Suki Time!**

Suki: *flails* Nooo! Ichi I shall avenge you! *carefully places my hands on his chest as he lays unconscious.* Grimm… *whispers to the cat next to him, stroking the soft fur on his head.* You have to take care of him and beat the shit outta anybody that touches him… *evil glare* Or I'll light your tail on fire.

Grimm: *rolls his eyes but nods and then looks away*

* * *

_I walked into the dark bedroom, hearing sounds of flesh tearing and bones cracking. In the moonlight coming through the window I saw a man with pale hair crouched over a body. I saw the pink, wet hair on the head and screamed._

_The man turned to me._

_His face was hidden down to his mouth, which was turned into a maniac grin. Blood was dripping down his chin and onto the floor, blood soaking his clothes and covering his arms._

_"I see you've found your way in Ichigo." How does he know my name?_

_The body on the ground suddenly began groaning in agony. The man in front of me suddenly sighed. "The bastard just doesn't know when to die does he?" He turned around and before he could go back to Szayel I lifted my leg high and kicked him in the neck. The man grunted, held his neck, and turned back to me. "You little shit!" His snarl turned back into the grin. "I think I'll have to show you something, to punish you for kicking me." He roughly grabbed the back of my head and pushed me out of the room and down the hallway to another room. The sounds of Szayel groaning were still reaching my ears._

_It was dark in the room, there wasn't even a window. The man turned on a light switch with his free hand. The illuminated room showed a pile of bodies, all people I knew. Tatsuki, Ilfort, Ggio, Yuzu, Karin, Dad, Uncle Byakuya, and Chad. I stood there frozen, looking at the scene before me. Tears started running down my face as I screamed loudly into the room._

_I fell onto my knees as I continued to scream. I tried to get away from the man and go to them but he tightened his grip and pulled me back. "Ah, ah, ah. You're not allowed to do that." He then dragged me back to the room where Szayel was. I was kicking, reaching for the room, and screaming everyone's names. When we were back Szayel was looking at us, pain clouding his mustard-colored eyes. "Szayel…" The man let me go to him and I held his head in my lap. "I'm so sorry." Szayel shook his head. _

"_No… I'm sorry…for this." He lifted up a knife in his left hand and slit my throat, my body falling onto Szayel and watching him smirk as I died. _

Ichigo's eyes opened wide as he sat up in bed, breathing heavily, his head in his right hand. "What kind of a dream was that?" he said to no one in particular. He looked down at his lap to see Grimm looking up at him with wide eyes. "Sorry for scaring you Grimm." He pet the cat's head. "It was just a bad dream."

He looked at the window and saw that it was just starting to get light outside, showing that he hasn't been asleep for very long. _Well, I'm not going back to sleep, I could have that dream again._

He laid back down onto the pillows, still trying to calm his breath. The door to the clinic opened and Yuzu walked in. Ichigo raised an eyebrow at her sudden appearance. "What are you doing awake Yuzu?"

She walked over to him, placing a hand on his forehead. "I couldn't sleep so I came down here to see if I could cook anything and I heard you scream, so I came in to check on you." Ichigo smiled softly.

"I'm fine Yuzu, it was just a bad dream. But, since you can't sleep do you wanna try to sleep here?" He moved to the side on his bed and patted the empty side. Yuzu smiled. "Thank you Onii-chan." She climbed up onto the bed and laid her head on Ichigo's shoulder.

Ichigo wrapped his arm around Yuzu's shoulders. The brother and sister haven't done this for a long time, since before their mother died. Whenever one of his sisters would have a nightmare or couldn't sleep both of them would come into Ichigo's room and sleep with him.

"So what did you dream about that was so bad?" Ichigo looked at his sister and shook his head. "I don't want to tell you, not when you should sleep, it might keep you up."

Yuzu looked up at him and smiled. "I don't mind Onii-chan, I probably won't fall asleep since it's 6:30 and we're going to have to get up in half-an-hour anyway."

Ichigo sighed before telling Yuzu about his dream, leaving out as much gory detail as he possibly could.

When he was done Yuzu gasped. "Oh my goodness Onii-chan."

"The freakiest part about that dream was that I think I've seen that guy before, I just don't remember where I have." Grimm started growling lightly. "Grimm? Are you okay?" He cautiously pet his cat's head and Grimm stopped growling, but he was still tense.

The clinic door opened and Isshin walked in. "Oh, look at you two; you haven't done this in a long time!" Isshin then gushed over the siblings for a few moments before regaining seriousness. "Ichigo, you will not be going to school today, you will need to stay home and recover your strength." Ichigo nodded, he knew that was coming. "Yuzu, could you be a dear and bring me some fresh bandages and help me change Ichigo's?" Yuzu nodded before slipping off of the bed and going to the supplies closet.

Isshin sat in the chair next to Ichigo's bed. "How are you feeling?" Ichigo sighed. "Sore, it hurts to move." Isshin nodded. "And what about your head?"

"It's still throbbing where I hit it, but it doesn't hurt as bad as yesterday." Isshin nodded again.

Yuzu returned with the bandages and her and Isshin began changing the bandages on Ichigo's body. They paused every time Ichigo groaned or hissed in pain from them moving his limbs and torso. He caught a look as they were changing the bandages on his abdomen and saw that he had multiple scrapes from when he hit the ground and many large bruises covering his chest and abdomen. His knuckles and palms were in bandages because of the concrete and from his punches. Ichigo sighed and gently laid his head back onto the pillow as they finished changing the bandages.

Once they were finished, Isshin gave Ichigo some pain medication and told him to get some sleep, he'll be checking in periodically throughout the day because he didn't need to go to the hospital that day. Ichigo nodded and Yuzu hugged him gently, saying that she'll see him after school and to get some strength back, she'll be making him a special dinner for him tonight to help him. He smiled and hugged her back.

Karin came in a few moments later to check on Ichigo and ask Yuzu where she disappeared to that morning. When she learned where she calmed down a bit. She then went to Ichigo and hugged him. "See you after school Ichigo."

He nodded weakly. "All right Karin, see you." The two girls left the clinic to go eat and get ready for school.

Isshin made Ichigo drink a glass of water and then left the clinic to take the girls to school. Ichigo began to feel the pain meds kick in so he closed his eyes and quickly fell into a dreamless sleep.

He woke up periodically throughout the day, because Isshin needed to change his bandages and give him a sponge bath, Ichigo felt awkward but was still glad it wasn't Yuzu or Karin doing it. "So did that boy do this?" Isshin asked as he gingerly swiped the sponge across Ichigo's chest and down his right arm. "Ichigo nodded. "Yeah, him and Houzukimaru." Isshin's eyes widened. "There was another boy?" Ichigo hissed as the sponge reached his abdomen, where most of the pain was centered. "Yeah, Houzukimaru caught me by surprise; I didn't know that he would be there. I just thought it was only Kazeshini because they were behind me as I was walking."

Isshin swore under his breath. "I'll be calling the school," Ichigo shook his head before Isshin could continue. "They can't do anything since it wasn't on school grounds." Isshin put the sponge back into the bucket of water, squeezed the excess water out, and continued to clean Ichigo. "Well then I'll call the police, they should be able to do _something_ about this right?" Ichigo shrugged and looked over to the chair where Grimm was sitting. The cat looked tense again, like he was that morning. He wasn't growling but Ichigo knew he was mad about something.

Once he was done with the sponge bath, Isshin slowly dressed Ichigo in boxers and placed new bandages on him. Isshin then left the clinic and returned with a cup of instant noodles and held it out to Ichigo, sitting down in the chair next to Grimm just in case Ichigo needed help eating.

His shoulder hurt as he lifted his arm and used the chopsticks to eat the noodles. His jaw didn't hurt as bad as it did so he was able to open his mouth and eat the noodles without too much trouble. After he was finished, Isshin threw the cup away and gave Ichigo more medicine. Grimm jumped back onto the bed with him and he fell back asleep.

The next time he awoke there were three people standing by his bed, Tatsuki, Chad, and Szayel. It turns out that Chad and Tatsuki already knew each other, she met him through a friend at the dojo.

Tatsuki sat down next to him on the bed. "We saw Karin and Yuzu as they were leaving and Yuzu told us what happened. We wanted to come in and see how you were doing but Karin said that you fell back asleep as they were leaving so we waited until after school. Then Chad came up to me and asked if I knew how you were doing. I told him what Yuzu told me and I said that Szayel and I were gonna visit you and he asked if he could come along."

Ichigo smiled at his friends. "I'm sorry if you were worried." Tatsuki let out an exasperated sigh. "You're sorry?" She leaned down and hugged him. "No, I'm sorry Ichigo. If I didn't have that stupid allergy episode yesterday I would have been there to help you against those pricks." Szayel walked to the other side of the bed and placed his hand on his head. "I should have been there too Ichigo, a three-on-one fight would have been interesting." Ichigo laughed, but then clutched his abdomen. Tatsuki shot back as if she'd been the one to hurt him. "Are you okay?" Ichigo nodded. "Laughing hurts."

Tatsuki rolled her eyes and smiled. "Of course idiot." She stood up from the bed and ruffled Ichigo's hair. "Well, I'm glad you're doing better. I'm sorry I can't stay longer, my mom's taking me out to eat tonight and we need to go." In something different from what Tatsuki would usually do she leaned down and gave Ichigo a quick peck on the head. "Bye Ichigo!" She waved goodbye to the other two boys and left the clinic. Chad walked up next to Ichigo's head. "I'm glad you're doing better Ichigo."

Ichigo smiled widely. "It's all thanks to you Chad, if you hadn't been there to save me I don't know what would've happened. Thank you Chad." Chad nodded and a small, almost inconspicuous smile appeared on his lips. "I'll see you around Ichigo."

"Goodbye Chad." The silent giant left the clinic.

Isshin walked in after he left. "Oh, did Tatsuki leave too? How sad." He walked over to the bed and looked at Szayel. "If you're not doing anything Szayel, would you like to stay for dinner?" Ichigo looked at Szayel, who smiled. Szayel frowned. "I wish I could, but I can't. My father is having some very important business associates over for dinner and I need to go help get ready." He bowed to Isshin and looked at Ichigo. "You feel better okay Ichigo? And next time, kick their asses."

Ichigo smiled and nodded. As Szayel was leaving Ichigo called out "Oh, what? No kiss? Psh, I like Tatsuki better now." Szayel looked back with a weird smile on his lips and an eyebrow raised. "Do you really want me to kiss you Ichigo?" Ichigo shivered and shook his head. "Nah, that's okay Szayel." Szayel shook his head and chuckled. "Baka." He then waved and left the room.

Isshin looked at him. "Well, dinner is ready. Are you ready to go?" Ichigo nodded and tried to sit up, but the pain was too much. Isshin quickly went over to him and helped off of the bed and into the house to the table. They were having curry for dinner and Ichigo smiled as Yuzu placed the bowl in front of him. "Thank you Yuzu, this looks great." Yuzu smiled and thanked him as she sat down at the table and they all began eating.

Ichigo had to stop to let his arms rest a few times but he eventually ate all of the curry.

"I think that you should be fine going back to your bed tonight Ichigo, we'll keep you home from school again tomorrow thought all right?" Ichigo nodded his head and let Isshin help him up the stairs after he said goodnight to his sisters. Isshin tucked him in and said goodnight before turning off the lights and leaving the room. Ichigo laid his head on the pillow and looked at the window sill where Grimm was staring out the window. Ichigo sighed, closed his eyes, and fell asleep.

* * *

Grimmjow's body was filled with anger. _Those two will pay for what they did to Ichigo! _He hated those two kids for hurting Ichigo but at the moment he mostly hated himself. He looked at the sleeping boy, wishing he could do something to help him, but he couldn't. _All because I'm a stupid fucking cat!_

Only four more years to go until he returned to being a human, he was impatient when he was a human but it's gotten worse since he became a cat. _This is Hell!_

_I can't wait until I become a human again, then I'll make sure that no one ever hurts Ichigo again. And if someone does, I'll make sure they regret it. _

He looked back at the orange-head and inwardly sighed before jumping softly onto the bed. He curled into Ichigo and fell asleep, dreaming good dreams of killing two kids named Kazeshini and Houzukimaru.

* * *

**Five Months Later:**

Ever since Kazeshini and Houzukimaru beat him up, it seems like every bully in the school is teasing him or fighting with him. The fighting hasn't been too terribly bad because he's learned new offensive and defensive moves that have helped him gain the upper hand in most battles, and Tatsuki and Chad help him out.

A few times though, before they could fight Ichigo, the bully would get beat up by Kazeshini or Houzukimaru. They both said the same thing every time that happened. "That's my ginger to mess with, you keep your grubby hands off of him and leave him alone."

Even though it has gotten a lot of the bullies off his back, he doesn't like the reason for it.

Ichigo and Tatsuki were standing outside one of the classrooms waiting for Szayel to finish talking with his teacher about some extra credit, which he doesn't need at all. They heard a familiar loud voice and tensed up as it came closer. "Oh lookie here, it's my ginger. How're ya doin'?" Ichigo growled and took a step towards Kazeshini.

"So, you wanna fight huh?" He cackled loudly. "All righty Ginger, we're up for that." He turned his head to the side and called out "Houzukimaru! They wanna fight!" The hulking teenager showed up, cracking his knuckles and neck. "Oh good, I had a bad day today so it'll be good to let off some steam on these bitches." Ichigo growled and Tatsuki tensed beside him, waiting for them to make the first move.

Kazeshini took the bait and lunged at Tatsuki, who dodged his fist, grabbed his arm, and flipped him onto his back. He caught her by faking getting up and then side-sweeping her legs out from under her.

While they fought on the ground Ichigo was busy dodging Houzukimaru's punches, waiting for an opening to attack. He got it when Houzukimaru had a big follow through on one of his punches and didn't recover fast enough. Ichigo brought up his right leg and kicked him in the stomach, or, because he was so tall, it was more of the pelvic area. "You little shit." Houzukimaru then tried to kick him but Ichigo back-flipped and landed by Tatsuki, who tapped his hand, signaling a switch.

They quickly turned around and Ichigo kicked Kazeshini in the chest while Tatsuki jumped and right-hooked Houzukimaru. "The…Hell?" Kazeshini glared at Ichigo as he tried to catch his breath, but he was still able to dodge most of Ichigo's punches and kicks.

Tatsuki was doing better with her fight. She was fast and was strong so she was able to dodge Houzukimaru's attacks and follow through with an attack of her own.

"That's enough."

Everyone froze and looked at the speaker. It was Kyoraku-sensei. Szayel stood behind him, shaking his head but smiling.

"Now kids, did you really have to fight on school grounds? It'll just make me have to do paperwork about why I didn't stop you." He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Well I do have to punish you somehow so you all have two days of detention with me off the record as long as you promise not to fight on school grounds anymore."

The four grumbled but nodded, saying they promise.

"Shunsui." Everyone froze as Szayel's teacher, Ukitake-sensei, came up. "Why aren't you doing more to punish them?" Kyoraku-sensei laughed and rubbed the back of his head. "Oh come on Jyushiro, we were kids once remember? We used to get into fights."

Ukitake-sensei looked as if he was going to say something but he just sighed and shook his head. "Shunsui…" He sighed again. "All right. But if I see them fighting I'll give them a worse punishment." He looked at the four. "Is that understood?"

The four nodded again. "All right, no go home. Your detentions start tomorrow in my room, be there after school."

Kazeshini laughed as Kyoraku-sensei and Ukitake-sensei left. "Of course I'm not going to some stupid-ass detention. Come on Houzukimaru, we'll finish this another time." He looked at Tatsuki and Ichigo and waved as he walked away. "Bye Ginger, I'll see you again soon so we can finish this."

Ichigo rolled his eyes and smiled as Szayel walked up to them. "Ready to go?" Szayel laughed. "Yes, if you two are done getting yourselves in trouble."

They all laughed and walked to Ichigo's street, Szayel and Ichigo saying goodbye to Tatsuki as they entered Ichigo's house. Szayel's parents were out of town for the week and he didn't feel like going to Ilfort and Ggio's apartment, so he was staying with Ichigo until they returned.

They went up to Ichigo's room and did homework until it was time for dinner, then they went downstairs, Grimm on their heels. During dinner Isshin asked why they were late getting home from school and Szayel said "I had to talk with my teacher after school, so I asked if Ichigo and Tatsuki could wait for me until I was done." _It was the truth, just not the whole truth._

Then Karin started ranting about her soccer team when Isshin asked how soccer practice went. So it was just a normal Kurosaki dinner, Isshin went crazy a few times and Karin hit him on the head which got him going again.

When dinner was over, Ichigo and Szayel helped Yuzu with the dishes before going back up to Ichigo's room, where they set up the cot where Szayel would be sleeping. They sat down on the beds and Grimm curled into Ichigo, already asleep.

"That's one loyal cat you know." Ichigo smiled down at Grimm. "Yeah, I know that."

"I wonder why he got so attached to _you _of all people." Szayel snickered. Ichigo softly strokes the fur on Grimm's head. "I don't know…maybe because I'm so hot?" He chuckled.

Szayel rolled his eyes. "I don't think so, but you keep telling yourself that Ichigo."

Ichigo chuckled and stared down at Grimm, his eyes softening. "I don't know what his reason for liking me is…but I've loved him since the day he found me." He smiled at the memory.

Szayel chuckled before grinning slyly. "And then you just _had _to name him after your big, strong detective." He winked at Ichigo before laughing.

Ichigo's eyes snapped to his, a dark blush settled on his cheeks. He talked fast as he said "W-What are you talking about? I just named him that because of his blue fur… It just looks the same!"

Szayel's eyes narrowed in mock anger. "How dare you love your cat only because it reminds you of a man!"

"I-I don't!" He picked Grimm up gently and gave him a light squeeze. "I love Grimm because he's Grimm and not because he reminds me of Grimmjow!" He then mumbled to himself, "But that does stick out…"

Grimm, now awake at this point, looked up at Ichigo with wide eyes, they held emotion in them but it was unclear what emotions.

Szayel laughed even more before becoming serious, talking to Ichigo as if he was misguided. "Oh Ichigo, you poor, poor boy. Quit lying to yourself."

Ichigo's blush deepened. "Shut up! I'm not lying!" He shook his head. "I'm not! I'm not!"

Szayel laughed again. "Okay, Grimm is Grimm; you're not lying to yourself. But you can't ignore the similarities between them."

Ichigo looked at the cat in his arms, his eyes saddening when the promising detective flashed through his mind. _Local detective found murdered… The detective's name was Grimmjow Jeagerjaques. _"Yeah… I know…" Ichigo's eyes watered as he hugged Grimm, seeking comfort from the cat.

Szayel's eyes widened and filled with concern for his younger friend. "Ichigo… I'm sorry; I didn't mean to make you sad." He moved and sat next to Ichigo, wrapping his arm around Ichigo's shoulders.

Ichigo sniffled. "It's fine… I'm all right…" He rubbed his eyes.

Szayel leaned down and looked at his face. "Are you sure Ichigo?"

"Yeah. I'm fine." He looked down at Grimm. _It's true… I named him Grimm because of how much he reminds me of Grimmjow…and somehow…he feels like him too. When I'm around Grimm I feel…safe. And when I hold him… _He held the cat just a touch tighter. _I feel warm and complete… The same kind of safety and comfort Grimmjow gave me._

_It feels as if Grimm…_is _Grimmjow._

**Finally! I got this up! *bows repeatedly* I apologize for the long wait! I just got caught up in school and other crap and whenever I tried writing this I either got bored or distracted and stopped working on it… But yesterday I got in a really good writing mood (I'm even starting to get my long chapter mojo back! :D) and I wrote it up! And a big thanks to Suki, who helped me with the last part, she was Ichi and I was Szayel. Well I hope you like this chapter and I promise you that the next chapter will be out very soon! *bows* Until next time!**


	6. Human Again

**Suki Time!**

Suki: *face palms Ichigo* BOOM Encouragement! *runs around in circles,  
laughing* I got sugar! I got sugar! *runs into Grimmjow* HI! *punches him in  
the face* BOOM Bitch Slap!  
Grimm: *holds his face* That was a punch you idiot!  
Suki: *bitch slaps him* BOOM Punch to the Face! *runs in circles laughing  
hysterically again* I WANT A DOUGHNUT!

* * *

Grimmjow lay curled into Ichigo, purring softly as the teenager pet him. Ichigo's 16th birthday was a few days ago so that means that his six-year condition was almost complete.

_I can't fucking wait to be a human again! I won't be this puny-ass kitten anymore!_

It's weird, even though Grimmjow was a cat for 6 years he didn't grow bigger then the small kitten he was when he first got turned. He'd feel better once he was able to be his normal height again.

He looked up at Ichigo, who was staring at the ceiling and had his free hand under his head. Amidst the joy of being human again there was an issue. Over the years he had fallen for Ichigo. He didn't know exactly when it happened but now it was pronounced and making that fact known every time he looked at the orange-haired male.

That was going to be an issue when he became human again because he knows how the kid feels about him and his detective side wants to uphold the law and not engage in a relationship with Ichigo, but there was something in the boy that made Grimmjow not want to care and go full speed ahead.

One thing that was going to be an issue though, was when he changes back, Ichigo will know that he knows all about his feelings because he was there for every talk between him, Szayel, and Tatsuki. He didn't know how Ichigo will react to knowing that little bit of information, he just hoped the youth would be able to deal with him knowing and come with him.

He was determined to have Ichigo with him when he goes to look for Shirosaki, no matter what he had to do to get Isshin to allow it.

He's heard a few reports of Shirosaki over the last four years. It seemed that he was bouncing all over Japan, sometimes even snagging famous women and men for victims. He was going to be hard to track once he and Ichigo got out there.

Grimmjow was suddenly picked up and moved to Ichigo's chest. The boy had woken up at around midnight and, after going to the bathroom, accidentally woke Grimmjow up as well. Three hours later and Ichigo hasn't even tried to fall back asleep.

It was most likely because he had a bad dream. Ever since that night in the clinic three and a half years ago he's been having bad dreams dealing with someone he loves getting murdered by a pale man with white hair off and on.

Grimmjow has already made the connection between the man in his dreams and the guy Ichigo ran into at the movie theater that day, who was no doubt Shirosaki. But, of course, Ichigo hadn't.

"I'm sorry about waking you up Grimm I just..." he takes in a shaky breath before continuing. "I just had a terrible dream..." Grimmjow looked up at him, wondering what happened in this dream.

"There was... The same guy that's been haunting my dreams was there and so was..." he hesitated to say the name, holding Grimmjow a little tighter. "Grimmjow."

Grimmjow's ears perked up as his small body tensed and he looked elsewhere. "The man he... he killed Grimmjow." Grimmjow tensed further and his body shook slightly. "It was like I was there... When I got there I saw Grimmjow. He was just standing there with his back turned to me."

Ichigo's eyes watered as he thought about what he saw next. "I remember calling his name and he turned around...he was holding his chest... He was sliced open from the chest to his abdomen." Tears escaped his eyes against his will. "He reached out for me, his mouth forming words but he couldn't say a single one of them." His lip trembled as more tears rolled down his face.

"And then... and then he went silent. His eyes were wide and his mouth was open as if he was screaming... He fell to his knees and the guy was standing behind him, holding the knife he used to cut Grimmjow. He sat on Grimmjow and stabbed him repeatedly. Grimmjow was laying motionless on the ground...blood pouring out of his body to pool around him. His eyes ordered me to run but... but I was frozen!" he sobbed loudly, feeling worthless.

"I just stood there and watched!" breathing deep, shaky breaths the berry tried to calm himself a bit so he could continue. "I couldn't help but scream...then the man turned to me...he came charging at me with his knife and... I woke up in pain..." he took a few minutes to calm down, Grimmjow finally turned to look at him when he didn't continue.

"You know... Szayel was right...when he said that I named you after Grimmjow. I know that that was a long time ago but I remember it... I remember it because I hate thinking about him...when I heard that he was murdered..." He started to softly cry again.

"I was scared. I was scared that I would never hear his voice again... that I would never feel safe again. He didn't just make me feel safe because he was a cop... It was a different kind of safe... He made me feel...happy and warm. I know it was stupid for a little kid to crush on someone much older than him  
but I couldn't help it. But who was I kidding? He could've never loved me back... but it doesn't matter now." he began to cry harder.

"It doesn't matter... because... because he's dead!" He shouted. It seemed like he was _just_ accepting this...has he really been trying to believe that Grimmjow was still alive all this time? But it was almost time for him to turn back, what would Ichigo do once that happened? "I just... I just want him back... I want  
him to tell me everything will be okay again." the teen said softly.

Grimmjow suddenly felt guilty for the kid's sorrow. He's been through so much and he's held it all in and locked it away from even himself to see. His nightmare broke the lock and shattered his hopes of seeing the detective again when really; he'd see him very soon.

Grimmjow swore to himself that he would never let Ichigo feel like this again. He would never let him feel like he was alone; never let him shed another tear over him.

Turning in the berry's arms, Grimmjow licked his cheek, taking up some of the teen's salty tears. Ichigo looked down at him with a surprised look on his face before fresh tears began to fall as he hugged his cat closer to his chest.

"Thank you Grimm... You make me feel...the same way he did..." he whispered quietly, feeling slightly awkward for basically telling his cat that he was in love with him.

Grimmjow pressed his head against Ichigo's cheek, hoping to comfort him so he would stop crying, but the tears continued to fall.

Grimmjow went back to licking the teen's cheek, trying anything.

He didn't even feel this helpless when Ichigo was beaten up in middle school. He felt even more worthless because Ichigo's hurt was directly caused by him, because he couldn't keep his promise and got killed.

Ichigo eventually calmed down, going back to petting Grimmjow's fur. They laid in silence until Yuzu knocked on his door, calling him down to breakfast.

Ichigo sighed, wiped his face again, and held Grimmjow as he got up and went downstairs. Grimmjow was set down at his bowl that was in its place by Ichigo's chair.

Yuzu asked Ichigo if he was feeling all right because his eyes were swollen and red. Ichigo just related it to him not getting any sleep, though that was only half the story.

Once they were both done eating Ichigo picked Grimmjow up and they went back to his room.

Grimmjow waited on the bed as Ichigo went to go take a shower and get ready for the day.

He sat on the bed and looked around the room like he did on his first night in the home. It hadn't changed much, except for a paint change a couple years ago and changes to his bed as he grew.

Ichigo walked back into the room wearing his uniform, covered feet pressing against the floor as he got his school bag ready. Before he left the room he leaned down and kissed Grimmjow on the head. "See you after school Grimm."

The teen grabbed his keys off of his desk, he got a car for his birthday from his uncle, and left the room.

Grimmjow heard the front door shut and the sound of an engine turning on through the window. Grimmjow couldn't sit there so he jumped down from the bed and went down the stairs, he had gotten very good at doing it by himself over the years though Ichigo still helped him sometimes.

He spent most of the day walking around the Kurosaki household, his home for the last six years. He tried to keep himself busy but there wasn't much he could do as a cat so he went back upstairs and into Ichigo's room, jumped on his desk chair, and then to the end table before making it to the bed. He found a comfortable spot in the middle of the bed and forced himself to go to sleep.

He awoke some time later, looked at Ichigo's alarm clock, and saw that it was almost time for Ichigo to get home from school. Grimmjow laid back down but didn't go back to sleep.

A few minutes later the front door shut and Grimmjow heard footsteps leading up to the room. Ichigo entered, a small smile on his face. "Hey Grimm." The teen set his school bag down at his desk before sitting in the chair and beginning to do his homework.

He looked better than he did that morning, but that could just be him hiding his feelings.

Grimmjow jumped off of the bed, meaning to go over to Ichigo but all of a sudden sharp pain appeared all over his body, as if one hundred people decided to stick needles all over his body at the same time.

He meowed in discomfort and barely noticed Ichigo look at him as the pain intensified. He looked down at his front paws and noticed the fur was disappearing and he was growing bigger. His paws were changing into human hands and he was sure the same thing was happening to his feet.

He let out a noise that was a mixture of a meow and a human grunt as he felt like someone was blowing him up like a balloon.

Almost all the fur was gone from his body, and he was almost to his full height, he watched as his limbs filled out and stretched to their previous length. He stood there in amazement feeling his face to make sure nothing residual from him being a cat was there.

He couldn't believe that he was human again.

* * *

Ichigo's eyes widened as he watched his cat transform into a human being. Tears formed in the corner of his eyes when he realized _who _that human was.

Once Grimmjow stood there looking like he did when he came to their house that day, the day he made the promise to Ichigo, Ichigo stood up and walked the two steps to be right in front of Grimmjow.

Ichigo looked at the man that was his cat a few seconds ago, looking over every facial feature, and, without warning, punched the man in the middle of his face. "What the fucking hell Grimm?" He was so angry he accidentally used Grimmjow's cat name. Ichigo punched the man again, this time in his stomach and as he was bent and clutching his abdomen Ichigo kicked Grimmjow in the side, sending him to the floor. "The news said you were dead!" He slammed his foot into the man's stomach, the tears starting to fall down his cheeks. "You made me believe you were dead!" He slammed his foot down again. "You were supposed to find my mom's killer!" He slammed his foot down a third time. "I bet you never did!" He raised his foot and slammed it down but he made it stop before it connected with Grimmjow's stomach. He sank to his knees, tears falling to the floor and sobs shaking his body. He brought his fist up and continuously hit Grimmjow in the chest with his fist but the blows had no power behind them.

Ichigo began sobbing harder. "I thought you were dead... I was so scared." Grimmjow sat up and wrapped his arms around Ichigo. "I know... I'm sorry."

Ichigo didn't listen to him and continued his weak assault on Grimmjow's chest. "Six years, and you didn't do anything, didn't show me anything that would tell me that it was you."

"Well, how was I supposed to do anything? I was a cat!"

Ichigo lifted his head and glared at Grimmjow. "You could've fucking done _something_! Something that would've fucking told me! Six years! For six years I believed you were dead!" He punched Grimmjow in the face, this punch having the force of his anger driving it. "You didn't even keep your promise!" He kicked Grimmjow in the side before slamming his foot into his stomach again, at the moment it was the only thing Ichigo felt like doing. He slammed his foot down again but before it could connect, Grimmjow caught it. "I know I didn't fully keep my promise, but I know who the serial killer is and I almost had him."

Ichigo's eyes widened before they narrowed again. "You better fucking explain!" Grimmjow lifted himself off of the floor and onto Ichigo's bed. "Give me a minute ya kinda just beat my stomach to Hell." Ichigo rolled his eyes and lifted his right hand to wipe the still flowing tears away.

Once Grimmjow caught his breath and his voice somewhat returned to normal he began his story from when he followed Masaki's killer into the warehouse.

He just realized that the man was completely naked and had a hard time keeping his eyes from straying from the man's face to his lower region. With the way Ichigo's felt about him ever since meeting him that first time this was not a good situation to be in. He kept fidgeting and blushed while trying to keep his eyes on the man's face.

Grimmjow must've hit a pause in his story because he finally noticed Ichigo's expression, looked down, and began laughing awkwardly. "Umm..."

Ichigo wordlessly got up and went to the bathroom to grab a towel. While he was in there he took a moment to splash cold water on his face a take a few deep breaths.

_That image is never gonna get out of my head._

He dried his face off, grabbed a towel, and went back to the room, handing it to the former cat.

"Thanks." The man stood up and wrapped the towel securely around his waist before sitting back down and continuing his story.

Over the next hour Ichigo was told the story of how Grimmjow had come to be his cat. He didn't want to believe the man's story but it was kind of hard to call it fake when he had just witnessed his cat turning into the detective with his very eyes.

Ichigo sighed, his mind reeling from the information Grimmjow just gave him. "So...the serial killer was your partner?" Grimmjow nodded. "And when you found him he killed you and you went to this place called the Soul Society?" He nodded again. "And because your need for revenge was so great they allowed you to come back but only if you agreed to be a cat for six years before you were able to find Shirosaki?"

"That's the gist of it yeah." Ichigo exhaled slowly. _And then he found me that day at the river._Ichigo's eyes slowly widened and a blush colored his cheeks as he thought about what that meant. "So that means..." Grimmjow raised an eyebrow and looked at him weirdly, but Ichigo wasn't paying attention because he was about to have a freak-out.

"Oh my God!" Ichigo groaned loudly and covered his head with his arms. He felt Grimmjow lay a hand on this shoulder. "There's nothing to be worried about Ichigo, almost every kid has a secret crush."

Ichigo glared at Grimmjow through the space in his arm. "But they usually don't talk about their crushes to their cats, who just _happen_to be the one that they're crushing on!" Ichigo groaned again. "This is so not cool!"

"I'll admit, you have a point there." He looked like he was considering what to say next but Ichigo beat him to it. "Oh shut up!" Ichigo took a deep breath to calm himself down and then removed his arms from his head before saying "No... Don't shut up... I didn't mean that. I'm just...having a little freak-out here."

Grimmjow scoffed. "A little freak-out?" Then the man began chuckling.

Ichigo glared at Grimmjow again and he stopped laughing and his face softened. "Ichigo, I really don't mind that you have a crush on me. You're actually..." A light blush dusted across Grimmjow's cheeks. "A very important person to me Ichigo."

Ichigo's blush darkened and spread to his ears. "...What? ...What do you mean?" 'God, my fucking heart needs to slow down! I swear people in America can hear this thing beating!'

Grimmjow scratched his cheek before using the fingers on Ichigo's shoulder to stroke the back of his neck. "Well...spending so much time with you has made you very important to me." His eyes steeled and he looked Ichigo in the eye. "I might not have been able to protect you while I was a cat but right now I'm swearing that nothing and no one will ever hurt you while I'm breathing."

Ichigo smiled, his eyes watering. "Thank you... Grimmjow..."

Ichigo couldn't believe what was happening, he was still expecting to wake up and see his normal, albeit oddly colored, cat curled into him sleeping. The one man he never thought he'd see again, never thought he'd hear again, was sitting next to him on his bed in his room.

The tears in his eyes began to fall, a wide smile on his face as he leaned his head onto Grimmjow's shoulder. "Just this morning I finally accepted the fact that you were dead, now you're right here." He felt Grimmjow wrap his other arm around his torso, the hand on his neck moving to hold his head. "I never thought I would see you again." He wrapped both of his arms tightly around Grimmjow. "I thought the safety I felt when you were around was gone forever, but...you're here again. It's back."

Grimmjow laid his head on Ichigo's. "Yeah, I'm back. And I'm not going anywhere." Ichigo's hands fisted. "You better not be. You still have a promise to keep for me and if you die again I don't think they'll let you come back again."

Grimmjow chuckled. "Probably not." Grimmjow's grip tightened ever so slightly. "And I will keep my promise this time."

Ichigo smiled even wider. He pulled back from the embrace, wiping the tears from his face.

"I'm sorry for beating you up earlier."

Grimmjow laughed. "It's all right, I deserved it, after the Hell I put you through."

Ichigo was about to say something else when the front door opened and shut. Ichigo's eyes widened. "Dad, Yuzu, and Karin are home." Grimmjow's eyes widened also.

Ichigo shot up from the bed, turned off the light, and left the room with a hushed "Stay here," to Grimmjow. He made sure to shut the door all the way after he was out.

Ichigo walked down the hallway and met Isshin at the top of the stairs. "Ichigo! I was just going to come check on you!"

Ichigo nervously laughed. _Thank god I left when I did then. _"Hey Dad, so how was the parent teacher conferences?" Isshin smiled widely. "It went great! Daddy's so proud of his little girls!"

"Oh, shut up Goat Face." Karin maneuvered by Isshin and said hello to Ichigo before going into her room. Isshin went to her door and pounded on it. "Karin, how could you be so mean to your dear old Daddy?"

Ichigo suddenly got an idea. "Hey, Dad?"

Isshin turned around, his frown turning into a wide smile. "Yes my son? What is it?"

"Do you…have any old clothes that I could borrow?" Isshin ran into his room for a few minutes and came out with a bundle of clothes in his arms. "Of course I do Ichigo! What kind of father would I be if I couldn't let my son borrow some clothes, completely trusting him in his reasoning for asking for such items!" Ichigo raised an eyebrow, took the clothes, and thanked Isshin before going back into his room, making sure that he revealed as little of it as possible as he walked in.

Grimmjow was still sitting on his bed and looked at Ichigo with a confused expression once he noticed the clothes in his arms.

"I'm not sure if these will fit perfectly, but they'd be better than wearing my clothes." Ichigo looked through the bundle of clothes and found a white t-shirt, black cargo shorts, socks, and boxers, the whole shebang. He held out the clothes to Grimmjow. "I'm pretty sure you don't want to be stuck in a towel all day."

Grimmjow chuckled and took the clothes. "You're right, thanks." He then stood up and dropped his towel. Ichigo quickly turned himself around, even though he's already seen Grimmjow he still wanted to give the man some privacy.

"All right, I'm done." Ichigo turned around and wanted to drool at the sight in front of him. The t-shirt was just a little tight on Grimmjow, showing the outline of his pectorals and abs. The shorts rested at just below his knees, showing off strong muscular calves. He was barefoot, meaning he must have skipped out on the socks.

"Well, I'll have to thank Isshin once we go down for dinner."

Ichigo's eyes widened, his mind brought back out of his own little world. "What? You're wanting to go down to dinner tonight?"

Grimmjow looked at him and laughed. "Well of course Ichigo, they have been my family for six years I should at least tell them this."

Ichigo sighed. "All right, well what do you want to do until then?"

Grimmjow shrugged. "It was easier when I was a cat, I could just go to sleep."

Ichigo chuckled and sat down cross-legged on his bed. "Well…you could tell me about your life before the whole Shirosaki thing happened. Do you have any siblings?" Grimmjow sat next to him and nodded. "Yeah, I have a younger sister. Her name's Neliel."

Ichigo leaned slightly forward, interested in hearing about Grimmjow's sister. "She lives around here, her husband's name is Gin Ichimaru and her son's name is Hideo."

"How old is he?"

Grimmjow stroked his chin before saying. "Damn…he's gotta be eleven now. I haven't seen that kid since the day after I found you, when you took me to the vet. I saw Neliel and Hideo at the graveyard." A sad look appeared in Grimmjow's eyes and Ichigo wanted to get away from that subject by asking another question. "What's Hideo like?"

The sad look dissipated as Grimmjow smiled. "He's a mixture of his mother and father. He's so excitable, whenever I would visit them and Hideo would see me he'd drop whatever he was doing, run towards me, and jump and wrap his arms around my neck. He was in love with that Hyorinmaru show that you used to like, Hideo would just about talk my ear off every time he talked about it, telling me everything that happened in the newest episode, his favorite parts from older episodes, and he would even reenact scenes in the living room."

Ichigo laughed loudly, hearing Grimmjow talk about his nephew like this was interesting, he wondered if he would ever get the chance to meet the boy.

"But then at other times, he can be sly and cunning, persuading you into almost anything. Almost every time I went over he would get me to buy him something that his parents would say no to, it was ridiculous! I don't know how many fights I got into with Nel and Gin over it." Grimmjow chuckled before continuing.

"Nel was just twenty when she married Gin and almost 21 when she had Hideo. She and Gin were childhood friends, they met in preschool, but I never even suspected they would become an item, let alone get married. I remember their wedding day, Nel was freaking out before the ceremony started but once she and Dad took those first steps down the aisle she instantly became the calm, collected woman she can be."

Grimmjow instinctively reached into his back pocket, going for his wallet which held a picture of Gin and Nel, but his eyes widened when he remembered that he didn't have his wallet anymore and didn't know what had happened to it after he died.

Ichigo leaned forward more, quickly asking another question to distract Grimmjow. "What about your parents?"

Grimmjow looked at him, his mouth in a small frown before turning back into a smile. "They were some of the best parents you could ever have. My father owned a hardware store and my mother worked as an editor for a publishing business. Around the time I became a cop they moved to America for their retirement."

Ichigo smiled, happy that he was learning so much about the detective's former life. It made him feel closer to the man.

"So what made you want to become a cop in the first place?"

Grimmjow looked down at the floor between his legs. "Once, when I was in high school, Nel and I went to a friend on mine's house for his birthday and on the way home some drunk guy with a knife attacked us. He got my arm and he got Nel's face. She has a scar on her forehead now from it. Well, a homicide detective was on his way home from work, saw what was happening, and struggled with the guy before handcuffing him and looking at us. He drove us to the hospital and made sure to call our parents.

"If that detective hadn't been there I'm not sure if we would've made it, I fought back and all but the guy was drunk and strong. But that day made me realize that all cops aren't as bad as some people say. It made me want to be a cop and change another kid's point of view on them." Grimmjow looked at Ichigo and smiled. "Once I was a detective the captain of the homicide branch was the same detective that saved us that night."

Ichigo's eyes widened. He couldn't believe that that had happened to Grimmjow. He thought that Grimmjow would be like little kids were when you asked them that question. _Because they're cool and I want to catch bad guys! _He wasn't expecting that.

A knock at the door made both males jump. "Onii-chan! Dinner's ready!"

Ichigo called out "All right, I'll be down in a minute!" He looked at Grimmjow and whispered "Are you ready?"

Grimmjow smiled, his sharp canines glinting in the light of his room. "Yeah, let's go."

They stood and walked down the stairs, Ichigo in front and Grimmjow a few steps behind him. Ichigo stopped at the bottom of the stairs, in view of the dining table. Ichigo cleared his throat before saying "Guys, we have someone joining us for dinner." Once they looked at him he walked forward and out of the way as Grimmjow walked into view. The blunet raised his arm in a wave and said "What's up?"

* * *

Everyone at the table's jaw dropped. Isshin was the first to recover and came at him with a flying kick shouting "Why are you in my house?" Grimmjow, knowing of Isshin's "man-making" antics he deftly dodged him, sending Isshin into the stairs. "I've been in your house for the last six years Isshin."

Karin recovered next. She stood up and looked at Grimmjow with wide eyes. "You're that one detective that was working on our mom's case that the news said was murdered. Why are you here?"

"It's a long story." Isshin stood up behind him. "Well we will definitely make time to listen to it. I need to know what the Hell is going on." Grimmjow saw Ichigo's eyes widen, it was one of the few times Isshin has ever cursed around Yuzu and Karin, even if it was a minor one.

Once everyone else got over their initial shock of seeing Grimmjow, Yuzu made an extra plate and offered it to him, which he gratefully accepted. _Man, I can't wait! This is going to be my first actual meal in six years! _Yuzu made beef udon which Grimmjow inhaled yet still maintained his manners and savored the meal. "That was the best meal I've had in a long time! Your cooking is amazing Yuzu."

Yuzu blushed and smiled. "Thank you Detective Grimmjow!"

Grimmjow smiled. "You can just call me Grimmjow, I'm sure I'm not a detective anymore."

She blushed more but nodded. "A-All right."

_Geez, it's no wonder her and Ichigo are siblings. They both act almost exactly the same when they're nervous. _Grimmjow chuckled under his breath. _It's cute. _

Once everyone was finished eating, they all went into the living room where Grimmjow told the story of how he ended up as a cat for the second time that day. Luckily, he didn't get beat up again, but Isshin did rip him a new one yelling at him for what he put Ichigo through. He took every second of the verbal abuse, looking at Ichigo occasionally, who was smiling at him with a weird expression in his eyes.

Once Isshin calmed down, he decided that it was time for everyone to get some sleep. He turned to Grimmjow and said "Since you've stayed in Ichigo's room for the past six years, I guess you can stay in there tonight, just be sure to grab the cot."

Grimmjow nodded and he waited for Ichigo to say goodnight to everyone, he for some reason feeling too awkward to do so, and then they went upstairs. They grabbed the cot and set it up in Ichigo's room before they sat on the beds.

Ichigo's eyelids were drooping and he kept eying his pillow, which was understandable the kid did have a long and physically and emotionally exhausting day.

"Go to bed Ichigo." Ichigo's eyes widened. "But…" Grimmjow smiled and, not thinking, reached over and cupped Ichigo's cheek. "I'll be here in the morning, don't worry." Ichigo smiled sleepily, nodded his head, and laid down on his bed and seemed to instantly fall asleep.

Grimmjow turned off the lights before walking back over to the cot, lying on his back and looking at the ceiling.

He thought about his conversation with Ichigo earlier about the kid's crush on him. _I don't know why I didn't just tell the kid about my feelings then, now it's going to be hard to hide them and find the perfect time to tell him. _

The problem that also stared him in the face as he turned to look at the sleeping boy was that Ichigo was still a _minor_. It was immoral to enter in a relationship with him, but still Grimmjow's mind and heart wanted him to, his body also but he _will_ keep that part under lock and chain until Ichigo was 18.

Grimmjow silently got up and crouched next to Ichigo's head. He gently ran a hand through orange spikes and pressed a small kiss on Ichigo's cheek. _Maybe once we leave and begin our search I'll tell him. _While they were still at the house was too dangerous. Grimmjow went back and laid on the cot again, unaware of the brown eyes that narrowly opened or the lips that twitched into a smile before relaxing again, falling back asleep.

Grimmjow turned on his side facing Ichigo and the window. He stared at the moon shining bright in the night sky. He felt his eyelids starting to droop so he closed his eyes and fell asleep, dreaming of a specific orange-haired male.

**Yay! He's back baby! :D I did promise that this would be out soon didn't I? A big thanks to Suki for the parts she helped me on! **

**I want to thank my anonymous reviewer kidwicked! I want to say thank you for loving my story so much and this definitely will continue! I promise you! :D I hope that you enjoy the future chapters as much as you've enjoyed the ones so far!**

**I hope you all love this chapter and now that I got past the cat part I will try to start updating this more often, if I have the time to do so. I have a lot of the upcoming chapters already planned out but I'm working on about three other things also (two of which should be up soon!)**

**Until next time! *bows***


	7. Takin' a Walk

**Sorry for the title of this chapter, I just thought of the name like a few seconds ago XD **

* * *

**Suki Time!  
**

Suki: *pokes Grimm cautiously and when my hand doesn't go through him, I glomp him, hugging him tightly* Grimmy's back! Grimmy's back! He's back! He's back!

Grimm: Yeah, I'm back, now get the hell off a' me! *struggles against the hug*

Suki: *snuggles into him* Iz missed you! You were such a cute kitten but I love you more as a sexy sexy man! *gets up, gesturing behind me to Ichi* And so does he. *winks*

Grimm: *stands up and smiles widely*

Ichi: *blushes and growls before chasing Suki* Get back here!

Me: *pops up out of the corner* To be continued...

* * *

The darkness surrounding Ichigo in his sleep slowly faded away, his ears hearing his own slow breaths and his nose smelling his own room mixed with some strange scent that he couldn't recognize. He slowly opened his eyes and saw a bright blue blur. His eyes slowly focused and figured out that the blue blur was instead hair. He gently moved the hair out of the way and saw that Grimmjow was curled into him like he would be when he was a cat. Ichigo shook his head in exasperation and laid back down before realizing something. He _really _had to go to the bathroom.

He tried to sit up but the former detective had him effectively pinned on the bed. He didn't want to wake Grimmjow up but he didn't know how much longer he would last. So, Ichigo decided that he would endure whatever punishment he would get and used his hand to lift the arm across his abdomen and kicked Grimmjow off of him and darted to the bathroom, hearing a loud thud as he left his room.

_I'm gonna be in trouble when I get back…_Ichigo thought as he relieved himself into the toilet. He flushed the toilet, washed his hands, fixed his boxers, and slowly crept into his bedroom. An irate Grimmjow was rubbing his head as he glared at Ichigo. "What the hell was that for?"

Ichigo rubbed the back of his head. "I had to go to the bathroom and you were crushing me."

Grimmjow got back up onto his cot. "Well, do ya know how hard you kick? It fucking hurts."

Ichigo laughed loudly, clutching his stomach as he leaned against the door frame. A pillow was tossed at his head and he looked at Grimmjow, who was laying on the cot, staring at him.

Ichigo walked over to his bed and sat down. "Well, it's your own fault for cuddling with me!" Grimmjow rolled his eyes. "I'm a habit former and I've been sleeping like that for the past six years, so it'll probably take me a bit to get myself back in the habit of sleeping like a human."

Ichigo pulled his legs onto the bed and crossed them. "So you still had your mind when you were a cat? You didn't think like a cat would?" Grimmjow raised an eyebrow at him, the weirdest look in his eye. "What? It's a legitimate question!"

Grimmjow sighed. "Yeah, I could understand what was going on and I knew about my life before if that's what you were wondering."

Ichigo scratched his chin. "That's weird… What's it like to be a cat?"

Grimmjow sighed and shifted on the cot. "It was a bit difficult adjusting to walking on four legs but once you get the hang of it, it's not that bad. What I really hated though was feeling useless whenever you got beat up."

Ichigo looked down sadly. "…I bet that night when I was in the clinic was really hard on you."

"It was… You had no idea how much I wanted to kill those two bastards who beat you up."

"I'm sorry…"

Grimmjow sighed again and looked out the window, trying to change the subject. "Well, it seems like a nice day today. Do you want to do something or go somewhere or whatever?" Ichigo shrugged. "I'm not sure what there is to do right now, since school is starting up again soon. We'd also have to find a way to cover up your hair. Maybe we could just take a walk?"

Grimmjow scratched the back of his head. "Sure, do you have a hat or anything I could borrow?"

Ichigo stood up off his bed and walked towards his closet. "Let me see if I have anything." He rummaged through his closet before finding a black beanie. "Would this work?" He turned around and showed the hat to Grimmjow.

"That's perfect." Grimmjow took the hat and put it on.

Ichigo blushed and looked away, glad that he was still only in boxers so that his problem would be seen. He looked through the closet again before grabbing a new pair of boxers, light blue jeans, a black and white graphic tee, a black belt, and black and white Vans slip-ons.

"I'll be right back." He left the room and went into the bathroom, turning on the hot water before taking off his boxers. He figured out what the scent he smelled that morning was, it was Grimmjow, and now, thanks to him, Ichigo was covered in the scent and it was assaulting his nose, making his erection grow even more.

He stepped under the hot spray and poured shampoo into his hair before scrubbing it in, getting rid of the greasy feeling. Now, don't get him wrong, he showers every day, but he still starts to feel disgusting if he waits too long after he wakes up to take it. He rinsed his hair before scrubbing in conditioner and grabbing his body wash. He began scrubbing himself until Grimmjow's scent left his nose and was replaced with the scent of his arctic ice Gillette body wash. He rinsed his hair again and his body before turning off the water, opening the shower door, and grabbing his towel. He dried himself, happy that his problem down there settled, and got dressed before leaving and going to Isshin's room.

He knew that his old man was downstairs from the laughter he heard on his way to the bathroom so he slipped in and walked to the man's dresser. He grabbed a pair of boxers, blue jean shorts, a blue short-sleeve t-shirt, socks, and a pair of blue and white sneakers. He walked back to his room and handed the clothes to Grimmjow. "Go take a shower before we go."

Grimmjow raised an eyebrow. "Ya saying I stink?"

Ichigo breathed in through his nose and smelled the man again. _That's definitely not what I'm saying… _"No, you've just been human again for almost a day and you didn't take a shower yesterday."

Grimmjow smirked and took the clothes. "All right." He shot a quick look at Ichigo's lower region before standing and walking to the bathroom.

Ichigo looked down and saw that his problem was back and groaned, sitting on his bed before pulling a pillow onto his lap before laying his head on it. _Shit… It's bad enough that Grimmjow knows that I like him but now he's _seeing _it…_

Grimmjow stepped out of the shower and grabbed a new towel from the cupboard above the toilet and dried himself off before getting dressed. He thoroughly dried his hair before slipping the beanie on, taking time to make sure as little hair as possible was showing. When he finished he smiled at himself in the mirror before leaving the bathroom and going back to Ichigo's room. He tried not to laugh at the sight of Ichigo sitting there with a pillow in his lap, obviously covering it up.

He cleared his throat and Ichigo looked at him, blushing brightly before looking away and coughing. "Looks good, let's go." He stood up and walked past Grimmjow and stood in the door frame and kept his head down.

When Ichigo started walking again after an affirmative grunt from Grimmjow, the older male followed him downstairs and tried to pretend that he didn't notice the other blushing or the small tent forming in the crotch of his pants.

Ichigo made sure he had his house key and wallet, just in case they decided to stop somewhere. He started imagining Szayel in a bikini to calm down his erection, shivering unconsciously at the mental picture.

Grimmjow remained silent, unsure if he anything he says would push the teen farther into arousal, which he was trying _really_ hard to ignore so he wouldn't have the same problem.

Ichigo reaches the living room, Grimmjow following right behind him, where Isshin was watching television. "Dad, Grimmjow and I are going to go on a walk." Isshin was laughing loudly but called out "All right my son! Be careful!"

Grimmjow said to Isshin, "Don't worry, I'll make sure no one touches him."

Ichigo blushed more. "Let's go." He turned and headed out of the house.

When Ichigo turned away, Grimmjow face palmed, feeling bad that he wasn't helping Ichigo's…situation.

Ichigo looked down at the ground, focusing harder on the disturbing mental picture of Szayel. _This isn't going too well…_

Grimmjow walked beside him and tried to think of a distracting topic. "Being a cat… Yeah, that was quite an experience." Ichigo sighed. "I bet…" He then smirked and peeked at Grimmjow out of the corner of his eye. "Especially with how you needed my help to get down the stairs."

Grimmjow rolled his eyes. "That was only at first when I was still learning how to walk or when I was too lazy and didn't wanna do it on my own."

"Or because you were so small and the big bad stairs were too much for you." Ichigo started laughing.

Grimmjow glared at him. "Everyone has their bad days." A light blush covered his cheeks as he remembered when he fell down the stairs and Ichigo treated him like a parent would treat an injured infant.

Ichigo laughed more before looking at Grimmjow, his blush completely gone and the problem in his pants finally settled down. "Well then, you had quite a few bad days."

Grimmjow returned his glare back at the kid, whatever blush was on his face was gone. "So did you, you got your ass handed to you a lot."

Ichigo glared back at Grimmjow. "At least I never fell down the stairs!"

"Maybe not as far as I know, but you sure had a fun time playing nurse." He smirked at Ichigo. "Do you like role play? I never would have guessed, thanks for the tip. I'll be the doctor and you can be my little nurse. Sound good to you?"

Ichigo's blush came back in full force and he looked away from Grimmjow.

Grimmjow's blush hit him hard as he realized what he was saying and he quickly looked away, trying to find something else to say. Ichigo stayed silent, still not looking at Grimmjow.

Grimmjow scratched his cheek. "Nah, if I were to do that sort of thing it'd be a prison set up."

Ichigo blushes more and his eyes widened. He looked at Grimmjow before hesitantly asking "What exactly does "prison set up" entail?"

Grimmjow lifted his head and stared off into space as they walked. "Well, instead of a hospital scene, I think it would be more fun in a prison set up, like the dirty cop goes into the prisoner's cell and starts doing a body search or whatever, they start to roam, and they end up…" What he was saying clicked in his mind and he blushed again and looked at the other to see his reaction. Ichigo's eyes widened before he rolled them. "Of course a cop would enjoy that scenario."

Grimmjow mumbled out, not looking at the other, "I figured you'd play the cop…"

Ichigo blushed and stayed silent for a few moments before stuttering out "Wh…What?"

Grimmjow blushed harder and waved his hands in front of him. "Uh n-no that's not what I meant! It was just on this porno and I figured it'd be fun to…" He face palmed, leaving a red mark. "I'm shutting up now…"

Ichigo looked away from him. "Good plan."

Grimmjow glared at everything they passed and asked himself why he's so stupid.

Ichigo sighed. _Okay, I need to think of something else to talk about or else this walk is ruined…_

Grimmjow spoke carefully, "So…I heard there's this new movie playing… Do you…wanna go see it?"

"You mean the one that Karin was talking about the other day?"

Grimmjow nodded. "Yeah, that one."

Ichigo shrugged. "All right, sounds good." He lifted his head to face forward.

Grimmjow sighed in relief that he didn't fuck up that time and makes a right turn with Ichigo on their way to the movie theater. Ichigo placed his thumbs in his pockets. "You know…when we get back we're gonna need to figure out what we're gonna do…"

Grimmjow raised an eyebrow. "About what?"

Ichigo looked at him. "About how we're gonna start finding Shirosaki. I'm going with you right?"

Grimmjow lightly blushed, but not enough to be noticeable to the youth. "Oh…that…if Isshin will let you then yeah." He berated himself for thinking that Ichigo was talking about role playing.

"He probably will. The people I'm most worried about are Tatsuki, Szayel, and Chad. I'm not sure what we're going to tell them about me leaving for however long it'll take us to find him…" Ichigo looked down at the ground sadly.

Grimmjow looked at the boy with concerned eyes, wanting to comfort him but not sure how. "It'll be okay Ichigo, we'll think of something to tell them so they don't worry about you and also keep them out of harm's way." He knew it was a dumb thing to say but it was the best he could come up with at the moment. He suddenly remembered something and stops in his tracks, arguing with himself.

Ichigo stopped and turned back to face Grimmjow, raising an eyebrow. "What is it?"

Grimmjow sighed and gave in, stepping up to the orange head and wrapping his arms around him. "I won't let any of your nightmares come true, Ichigo… I'll fight with you to make sure everyone gets out of this safely. I swear on my life, I will protect you."

Ichigo's eyes widened before he closed them and wrapped his arms around Grimmjow. "I know you will… And I swear on my life that I won't let him kill you again…" A tear fell down Ichigo's cheek. "Thinking that you died once was bad enough, I'm not gonna let that happen a second time."

Grimmjow smiled and buried his face in the teen's neck. Ichigo tightened his arms and rests his head against Grimmjow's shoulder.

Grimmjow patted Ichigo's back. "Come on, I'm not sure what time the movie's at so we better go." He pulled away slightly to look at Ichigo's face. Ichigo looked back at Grimmjow while simultaneously wiping his eyes free of un-fallen tears. "Yeah, we should probably go."

Grimmjow messed with Ichigo's hair. "You do know you're paying right?"

Ichigo pushed his hand away, chuckling. "Yeah, I know."

Grimmjow laughed. "Good, I want some popcorn." He started walking again, Ichigo catching up to walk at his side.

The two walked for a little bit longer until they reached the movie theater, Grimmjow standing back as Ichigo want to the glass and purchased two tickets. He walked back to Grimmjow and handed him the ticket that said "Adult" on it. "You ready to go in?"

Grimmjow took the ticket and nodded. "Yep," He walked in with him. "Thanks." Grimmjow looked at him. "I would pay for myself but," He shrugged. "I kinda can't."

Ichigo chuckled. "It's fine." He handed the ticket to the girl behind the podium who ripped his in half, handed him one half, and told him where their theater was. "I'd be a little worried if you were able to pay."

Grimmjow did the same. "I'll make it up to ya someday." He suddenly stopped, turning away as he covered his nose, feeling as though it might start bleeding as images of Ichigo in a slutty police uniform fill his mind.

Ichigo started asking Grimm what size of popcorn he wants but stopped when he looked at him. "…You okay, Grimmjow?"

Grimmjow waved back. "I'm fine." He moved his hand to look at it, cursing that there was a little bit of blood. "Uh… It doesn't matter; I'll just meet you in there okay?"

Ichigo raised an eyebrow. "All right…" He went to the concession stand and purchased a medium popcorn for Grimmjow and a white cherry ICEE for himself, and then he went into the theater and got a seat way up in the back and put a foot on the seat in front of him as there was no one sitting in it.

Grimmjow walked into the bathroom holding his nose. "Damn kid… Putting thoughts like that into my head…" He grumbled to himself. He looked in the mirror when his nose stopped bleeding. "He's a minor. He's still a minor. Get those thoughts out of your head; he's still just a kid." He sighed before walking out of the bathroom and into theater number 5, looking for Ichigo.

Ichigo saw Grimmjow enter the theater and waved at him, showing where he was sitting. Grimmjow joined him and took the ICEE, taking a slurp from it before giving it back and taking the popcorn.

Ichigo raised an eyebrow. "The heck?"

Grimmjow smirked. "Shut up, you were taught to share. Ichigo shook his head, a "WTF" expression on his face. "And were you ever taught to ask permission? You had to get warrants before you busted into someone's house, right?"

"Well if I need a warrant to steal your drink," Grimmjow took the ICEE again. "Then I guess I'm breaking the law." He took at drink. "Ya gonna arrest me?" He held his breath, regretting having said that due to the mental image.

Ichigo glared at him. "I won't if you just give me back my drink." He didn't realize the state the Grimmjow was in as he held his hand out, waiting for the man to give back his drink. Grimmjow handed the drink back, not wanting to face the same problem.

Ichigo took a sip, smirking at Grimmjow as the lights dimmed. "Ha!"

Grimmjow stared at the screen, trying to calm himself down. Ichigo looked over as he took a sip, eying the popcorn before removing the straw from his mouth and grabbing a handful of the popcorn.

Grimmjow chuckled and rolled his eyes but didn't say anything because he's still too worked up and was afraid of what he would say. Ichigo glared at the popcorn in his hand. _Damn… I wanted to get a rise out of him._

Grimmjow felt in control of himself again and leaned over. He asked Ichigo if he wanted more before throwing a small handful at his face and laughing about it. He stole the drink again, sticking his tongue out at Ichigo. Ichigo snuck another handful before shoving it down Grimmjow's shirt and taking the drink back, sticking his tongue back out at him.

Grimmjow glared at him, trying to get all the popcorn out of his shirt. "You're asking for an ass kicking."

Ichigo chuckled before holding a finger to his lips. "Shh… The movie's starting." He rubbed a hand through his hair to get rid of the popcorn before sitting back and looking at the screen like nothing happened, happily taking a sip of his drink.

Grimmjow watched the screen again, every now and then peeking at Ichigo.

Ichigo snuck a peek at Grimmjow, taking some more popcorn but not throwing it anywhere. Grimmjow smiled, shaking his head as he ate some as well.

Ichigo placed his feet back on the empty seat in front of him, leaned back, and took a large drink before setting the ICEE in the cup holder on his left. He snuck another peek at Grimmjow and accidentally met his gaze, as the man was looking at him also, a warm feeling spreading through his body.

A tingle spread through Grimmjow's body as he studied Ichigo's face in the dark theater. The berry's eyes seemed to glow in the dark room and they held something the former detective couldn't explain.

Ichigo's eyes roamed Grimmjow's face, stopping at his slightly full lips. He felt himself begin to lean forward but did nothing to stop it. Grimmjow noticed the other's figure slowly lean forward and, without thinking, does the same.

Ichigo's eyes closed halfway as his face got closer to the former detective's, his gaze still locked on the man's lips.

Grimmjow lifted his hand to hold the back of Ichigo's head and brought him in and closed the space between their sinful lips, closing his eyes as he did so, completely forgetting where they were or what they were doing.

Ichigo's eyelids fell the rest of the way when their lips touched and tingles zapped down his back and on his lips. He brought his left hand up and gently cupped Grimmjow's face.

Grimmjow pulled away from his lips, telling himself that it was wrong. But, he gave in and kissed the youth again, staying longer this time, wanting more of the delicious feeling. Ichigo moaned quietly and moved his hand into Grimmjow's hair and gripped it softly to prevent the former detective from backing out again.

All thoughts of leaving left Grimmjow's mind at the sound of that moan. He hesitantly glided his tongue over the soft lips on his.

Ichigo slowly opened his mouth to the tongue, a little unsure of himself as this was his first kiss. He moved his lower body closer but growled when his hips hit the armrest in between them.

Grimmjow smiled at the cute way Ichigo growled and used his free hand to lift the armrest up before wrapping it around the youth's waist to pull him closer.

Ichigo lifted his free arm and wrapped it around Grimmjow's neck, his own tongue starting to play. Grimmjow explored his hot mouth with his tongue as his hands began to roam, slowly getting a little aggressive.

Ichigo's breathing got harsher as he aligned their chests and the hand in Grimmjow's hair tightened its grip.

Grimmjow teased one of Ichigo's hardened nipples through his shirt. Ichigo moaned again and his grip tightened even more and he slowly became surer of himself and his tongue became more aggressive.

At the sound of the moan, Grimmjow's dick hardened even more, pressing uncomfortably against the jean shorts. God, how he wanted to throw Ichigo over the seats in front of them and fuck him right there. His hand traveled down the youth's body, palming the covered erection through Ichigo's jeans before moving his hand, easily slipping under the jeans and boxers. Just as he touched the other's hardened cock, an explosion came from the screen and he pulled as far away as he could with his hands up, looking around worriedly. His clouded mind thought that he had somehow exploded the other's cock.

Ichigo's eyes widened and he looked at Grimmjow, his mind hazy as he wandered what the hell just happened.

Grimmjow looked between the fire and carnage on screen and Ichigo's crotch a few times before finally calming down, sitting normally in his chair as he placed both hands over his face.

Ichigo was still frozen in place as he put together what happened in his mind. When it clicked he began to chuckle uncontrollably.

Grimmjow's own laughter was muffled by his hands. Ichigo's chuckles gave way to loud laughter which he tried to muffle with his hands and shirt. People look at them oddly, some told them to shut up, but the two didn't care.

Ichigo leaned on Grimmjow's shoulder as he tried to get himself to calm down.

Grimmjow whispered, though he continued to laugh, "I thought I exploded your dick there for a second."

The comment made Ichigo laugh harder; making his head lean back and he held his hands tighter to his mouth.

Grimmjow eventually got himself to calm down, rubbing Ichigo's back to try to help the youth calm down also.

Ichigo took deep breaths and fully got himself to calm down. He still leaned against Grimmjow's shoulder because he was slightly light headed.

"You good?"

Ichigo looked up at him and nodded, smiling widely.

Grimmjow nodded back. "Yeah, I'm fine."

Ichigo straightened up and leaned back in his chair, watching the movie for the last few scenes until the credits started to roll. A feeling of extreme euphoria came over Ichigo as Grimmjow and he stood up, grabbed their trash, and left the theater. He just had his first kiss, that enough was to get him happy. But, what _really _made him want to dance and sing as loud as he could in the most crowded part of Karakura was the fact that his first kiss was with Grimmjow Jeagerjaques, the man that he'd been crushing on for six years.

Grimmjow resituated his beanie, looked over at Ichigo, noticed the kid's wide smile, and couldn't help but smile also, even though he felt a small pang of guilt for kissing the youth.

The two began the walk home and even though Ichigo kept his happiness contained as much as he could, there was still a slight bounce to his step and the words to one of his favorite songs were sung under his breath. "Come on, everybody throw your hands up in the air, come on let's… You know, we keep the party jumpin', so let's keep those 40's comin'."

Grimmjow looked at him and rolled his eyes. "Weirdo."

Ichigo chuckled and looked at him. "Well, you're the one who kissed this weirdo!"

Grimmjow laughed and shook his head before draping his arm across Ichigo's shoulders. "Yeah, I know." The guilty feeling grew as he looked at Ichigo's youthful, smiling face, but he pushed it down and ignored it for now, for Ichigo's sake. _I can't have the kid sad because I feel guilty for kissing him; he might take it the wrong way. _

Ichigo continued to sing as they walked, eventually dancing out from under Grimmjow's arm as they get closer to the Kurosaki home. They walked into the house and went up to Ichigo's room as the downstairs was empty.

Ichigo sat on his bed while Grimmjow sat on the cot. They sat in silence for a few moments before Ichigo spotted something shining on the ground. He stood up, walked to it, and picked it up. It was Grimmjow's collar.

Ichigo sat back down and held the torn collar in his hands. It must have ripped when Grimmjow returned to normal. Ichigo ran his fingers over the blue fabric and the tag, looking at the name engraved on it. _Grimm._

"Thank you, Grimmjow." He looked up at the blunet and saw a questioning look in his eyes. "Thank you for being the best cat anyone could ever have."

Grimmjow's lips curled into a soft smile. Ichigo looked back down at the collar and hid his watering eyes from the former detective. "I don't know how I would've gotten through some of the crap in my life if I didn't have you there to rant to or whatever I needed, especially when I had nightmares. Whenever I woke up, you always did and I could just pet you and I would always be calm. No matter whether you were a cat or now and back then when you're human you always make me feel safe and comforted." A tear slipped down his cheek and Grimmjow must have seen it because Ichigo felt him get onto the bed and he was taken into Grimmjow's arms.

Ichigo looked up at Grimmjow's face, the tears making it a slight blur. Grimmjow began to softly rub his hand up and down Ichigo's back, still smiling as he looked at Ichigo.

Ichigo moved his face until his lips lightly touched Grimmjow's. He stayed there for a few moments before he pulled back, but as he pulled back, Grimmjow followed him and connected their lips again, their lips staying closed.

Another tear fell down Ichigo's cheek and he wrapped his arms tightly around Grimmjow. Grimmjow disconnected the soft kiss and said "And…thank you Ichigo, for taking such good care of me while I was a cat. You were a good owner."

Ichigo smirked and asked "Don't you mean master?"

Grimmjow scoffed. "No one is my master," He chuckled. "Way to ruin the moment there, Ichigo."

Ichigo laughed and wiped the tears from his eyes. The two unwrapped their arms from the other and continued to sit next to each other on the bed. _What the hell is this kid doing to me? …I really have fallen hard, haven't I? _Grimmjow internally berated himself. _But, I can't allow myself to go past kissing him. He's still a minor and he needs to keep his innocence. _He had a moment of weakness in the movie theater and he was extremely happy when he realized what the explosion stopped him from doing. He would never allow himself to be weak like that again, at least until Ichigo was of age.

Ichigo sighed. "So…where are we going to start first? The news yesterday said that killings were centralized around Nagoya."

Grimmjow's eyes widened. "He's that close to here?" Ichigo slowly nodded his head. Grimmjow ran a hand through his hair. "We'll have to leave soon, Shirosaki won't stay for long, he'll probably move on in a day or two." Grimmjow pinched the bridge of his nose, thinking deeply. "One thing I don't understand was why he's only staying in Japan. Maybe he just has a grudge against Japanese police, but I don't know why."

Ichigo shrugged. "I'm not sure either, but we'll need to be careful when we approach him."

"Like Hell! I'm killing him when I first lay eyes on him!"

Ichigo glared at Grimmjow. "But you charging after him was how you got killed in the first place! Remember what I told you before we went to the movie? I swore on my life that I wasn't going to let you get killed again! I won't let you and your "kill first, plan later" attitude make me a liar!" Grimmjow stared into Ichigo's angry and hurt eyes and sighed. "All right, when we reach him, I'll be careful and plan ahead."

Ichigo's glare lessened. "Thank you…" He shifted back on the bed until his back was against the wall and his foot was dangling off the side.

The two were silent after that for a long time. After a few hours, they were called down to dinner. They walked down the stairs and Ichigo sat down at the table, Grimmjow sitting next to him. The two didn't say anything about their partially formulated plan to the other three sitting at the table; they didn't want to make them sad, especially since they didn't know that Ichigo was going yet.

Dinner seemed to be less psychotic than normal. Whenever Ichigo looked at Isshin, who was normally the main source of it, he looked to be staring off into space, as if he had something on his mind. Ichigo couldn't help but wonder if he knew that Ichigo was going to go with Grimmjow. It was one of the only times he ever wanted to know what was going on in his father's head.

After dinner, Grimmjow and Ichigo helped Yuzu with the dishes and then went back up to Ichigo's room. Ichigo was starting to feel tired, the day wiped him out but he was glad that he still had a few extra days before school started up again. Grimmjow and he stripped down to their boxers, Ichigo taking care to not look at Grimmjow, and got into their separate beds after Grimmjow turned off the lights. They said goodnight to each other and Ichigo laid his head down on his pillow, remaining awake for a few moments before he closed his eyes and fell asleep.

**Wheee! *runs around in a circle* I'm back! :D Sorry for the wait, I had a drama-filled past couple weeks but it's all geeewwwd now! Sorry, I'm in a really hyper mood right now… **

**I can't wait to see what you all think of this chapter and I can't wait to get the next one out! :D**

**The song Ichi sang in this chapter was Pimpin' by Hollywood Undead. (I'm back on my Hollywood Undead kick XD)**

***bows* Until next time! **


	8. EVEN MORE IMPORTANT (LAST ONE I SWEAR)

_**EVEN MORE IMPORTANT:  
**_

_**I'm working on getting all my shit up on my DeviantArt and don't call me a noob because I understand that I am. DeviantArt is new to me so it'll take awhile for me to get used to, just put up with me until then. It's very time consuming and I've been busy as of late and don't have as much computer time as I used to... okay I do but unless I'm the only one home (like I am right now) I'm locked up in my room. I'm going through an "I hate the world" phase again because I'm way depressed and I hate people because they make everything worse. **_

_**My writer's block is still in effect but it's slowly letting up so what I'm going to do is read all my fics again and try to get back to work on them. Maybe I'll work with the dinosaur downstairs... it doesn't have the internet but I can work off my flash drive that way I don't have to copy everything down from paper (I fucking hate that). It'll be better than nothing, right?  
**_

_***sigh* Whatever. **_

_**I would like you guys to tell me what you would like to see updated first so I know what to work on first because it's gonna take a bit of time for me to get back into all of them. So what are you guys hungry for? PM me or something and I'll take a toll. For now, I'll just work on getting more up on my DA.  
**_

asukimonazetsumei .deviantart. com === Without the spaces of course.


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